2010-11 was the least fatal year for workers in eight years according to a new report released by Safe Work Australia.

 

The Work-related Traumatic Injury Fatalities, Australia 2010-12 shows that 374 people died from a work-related traumatic injury in 2010–11. Of these 220 workers (59 percent) died from injuries incurred at work; 110 workers (29 percent) died from an incident while travelling to or from work and 44 people (12 percent) died as a bystander to someone else’s work activity.

 

Other key findings of the report include:

  • Two thirds of the work-related fatalities in 2010–11 involved vehicles. Half of these incidents occurred on a public road while the other half occurred at a worksite.
  • More than a quarter of workers who died were working in or around a truck.
  • Australian workers aged 65 years and over had the highest fatality rate. There were 10.54 deaths per 100 000 workers aged 65 years or over. This was nearly six times the rate for all workers.
  • Younger workers aged under 25 years had the lowest fatality rate of all age groups. There were 0.88 deaths per 100 000 workers in this age group. This was the lowest rate recorded for this age group in eight years.
  • The Agriculture, forestry and fishing industry had the highest number of fatalities with 60 deaths in 2010–11. This was followed by the Transport, postal and warehousing industry with 42 deaths and the Construction industry with 39.
  • Close to one quarter (24 percent) of all worker fatalities occurred while working on a farm.

 

The report is available at www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au