Workplace Injuries and Death: Safe Work Australia 2021 National Statistics

Each year Safe Work Australia compile national statistics from across the country on the incidence of workplace injury and death.

We have set out a number of the key findings relating to work-related fatalities, work-related physical injuries and work-related mental ill-health.

Work-related fatalities

There was a total of 169 work-related fatalities in 2021, with male workers representing 163 of those.

Approximately 40% of fatalities occurred as a direct result of a vehicle crash, including cars, trucks, tractors, loaders, boats and quad bikes, with the industries of transport (52), agriculture (33), construction (24) and manufacturing (16) having the highest representation across the workforce. We have looked closer at the main factors contributing to serious truck accidents in our earlier article The Human Factor in Road Traffic Accidents.

Although trending down since a peak in 2007 at over 300, it remains the case that one death in the workplace is one too many. Every person should return home safe from work.

Further work needs to be done in identifying the risks associated with these workplaces, including the environment, plant and equipment, and managing those risks with safe plant and equipment, instruction, training and supervision provided by the employer.

Work-related injuries

Safe Work Australia reported a total of 130,195 injuries occurred in the workplace in 2021 that resulted in more than one week off work.

On average, those workers spent a total of 7 weeks out of work, with compensation payments of around $15,000 being made per injury.

Incidents involving physical stressing, and slips, trips and falls, represented 37% and 23% of claims respectively.

Workers aged under 24 and over 50, are more frequently injured than the rest of the population. In addition, the statistics showed that labourers, carers and machinery operators were injured more frequently than workers in other occupations.

Some of our most vulnerable population groups either by age, skills and experience, and who can often least afford injuries and the interruptions to their employment, appear more at risk of suffering serious injury in the workplace.

Mental Health

Mental health conditions only represented 9% of injuries that resulted in more than one week off work, which was a modest increase from 6% in 2015. However, the consequences were far more significant when compared to physical injury claims.

The average mental health injury resulted in an average of 30.7 weeks off work compared to 6.2 weeks for physical injuries, at an average cost of $55,270 compared to $13,883 for physical injury claims.

Mental health awareness, culture and leadership remain an important cog in maintaining a healthy and productive workforce.

Everyone has a part to play in helping to keep our workplaces and workers safe.

Support

If you have been impacted by a work-related death or injury, please contact our office for a confidential and obligation free conversation regarding your legal rights to help ensure you are fully informed and able to access benefits and supports when needed the most.