Work-Related Traumatic Injury Fatalities, AUSTRALIA 2008-09

WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC
INJURY FATALITIES,
AUSTRALIA 200809
MAY 2011
Safe Work Australia
WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC
INJURY FATALITIES,
AUSTRALIA 200809
May 2011
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Acknowledgement
Information on work-related deaths in this report has been compiled with assistance from
the National Coroners Information System (NCIS), maintained by the Victorian Institute of
Forensic Medicine (VIFM). The authors would like to thank VIFM for allowing access to the
data presented in this report. The authors, and not VIFM, are responsible for the use of the
data in this report.
Disclaimer
The information provided in this document can only assist you in the most general way. This
document does not replace any statutory requirements under any relevant State and Territory
legislation. Safe Work Australia accepts no liability arising from the use of or reliance on the
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is not thereby engaged in rendering professional advice. Before relying on the material, users
should carefully make their own assessment as to its accuracy, currency, completeness
and relevance for their purposes, and should obtain any appropriate professional advice
relevant to their particular circumstances. To the extent that the material in this document
includes views or recommendations of third parties, such views or recommendations do not
necessarily reflect the views of Safe Work Australia nor do they indicate a commitment to a
particular course of action.
Foreword
The aim of this report is to determine the number of people killed each year
due to work-related activity. Because there is no single national data collection
system that identifies all work-related injury fatalities, the exact number of people
who die in any year as a result of work-related injuries in Australia is difficult to
establish. To achieve the best estimate, Safe Work Australia examines a number
of datasets that contain information on work-related fatalities.
The National Data Set for Compensation-based Statistics (NDS) includes work-
related deaths of employees (that is, excluding self-employed workers) for which
liability for compensation has been accepted. The NDS includes compensated
commuting-related fatalities, but these fatalities are not compensable in all
jurisdictions and hence coverage is incomplete. People who die as a result of
another persons work activity (bystanders) are not included in the NDS.
The Notified Fatalities Collection (NFC) includes notifications of fatalities in
accordance with the work health and safety legislation in each jurisdiction and
generally excludes incidents occurring on public roads. Jurisdictions also do not
generally notify commuting fatalities and notification of bystander deaths is not
comprehensive.
The National Coroners Information System (NCIS) contains all deaths notified
to any Australian coroner. Although all fatalities from work-related injuries are
likely to be notifiable, they are not uniformly coded as work-related, particularly
for commuting and bystander deaths or deaths of workers involved in vehicle
incidents. Open cases are included where sufficient information is available to
determine a death as work-related.
Investigations of rail, marine and aviation incidents by the Australian Transport
Safety Bureau are also used as a source to identify work-related fatalities.
In addition to these datasets, media reports sometimes alert the project to deaths
not identified elsewhere. All such cases were matched with information in the
NCIS to determine work-relatedness.
For further details on these data sources, please see the Explanatory notes.
Definition of work-related injury

This report covers fatalities resulting from an injury sustained in the course of
work activity, commuting to and from work, and as a result of someone elses
work activity. Injury is defined as a condition coded to External Causes of
morbidity and mortality and Injury, poisoning and certain other consequences
of external causes in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and
Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM).
Within scope of this collection are all persons:
who were fatally injured, and
whose injuries resulted from work activity or exposures, and
whose injuries occurred in an incident that took place in Australia,
Australian territories or territorial waters.
WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC INJURY FATALITIES, AUSTRALIA 200809 ... iii

They include all persons killed:
while working (including unpaid volunteers and family workers, persons
undertaking work experience and defence force personnel killed within
Australia, Australian territories or territorial waters) or travelling for work
(Working fatalities)
travelling to or from work (Commuting fatalities), or
as a result of someone elses work activity (Bystander fatalities).
The collection specifically excludes those who die:
of iatrogenic injuries those where the worker died due to medical
intervention
due to natural causes such as heart attacks and strokes, except where a
work-related injury was the direct cause of the heart attack or stroke
as a result of diseases, such as cancers
while working overseas (defence personnel and civilians)
by self-inflicted injuries (suicide).
Methodology
All cases within scope as described were extracted from each dataset and
compared to identify and remove duplicate cases.
On the basis of available information each individual case was classified as:
a Working fatality
a Commuting fatality, or
a Bystander fatality.
People who die of injuries resulting from someone elses work activity while
themselves at work or commuting are classified as Working or Commuting,
respectively, rather than as Bystanders.
This publication covers fatalities that occurred over the period from 1 July 2003 to
30 June 2009. Changes may be evident from previous years reports due to the
availability of additional information as coroners finalise their reports.
iv ... SAFE WORK AUSTRALIA

Contents
Foreword iii
Summary of findings vii
1 Total fatalities 1
2 Working fatalities 3
2.1 Occupation 3
2.2 Industry 6
2.3 Traffic incidents 9
2.4 State/territory of death 10
2.5 Age and sex 12
2.6 Mechanism of incident 14
3 Commuting fatalities 17
3.1 Occupation 17
3.2 Industry of employer 18
3.3 Age and sex 19
4 Bystander fatalities 21
4.1 Age 21
4.2 Location of incident 21
4.3 Mechanism of incident 22
Explanatory Notes 23
Glossary 33
References 35
WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC INJURY FATALITIES, AUSTRALIA 200809 ... v

Summary of findings
This study identified a total of 444 work-related traumatic injury fatalities in
Australia during 200809, of which, 286 (65%) were injured at work (Working
fatalities); 117 (26%) while travelling to or from work (Commuting fatalities) and
41 (9%) as a Bystander to someone elses work activity (Bystander fatalities).
Working fatalities
The 286 Worker fatalities equates to a fatality rate for 200809 was 2.6 deaths
per 100000 workers. This is the lowest rate since the series began (and equal to
the fatality rate in 200405) due to higher employment.
Occupation
One in five of those fatally injured while working in 200809 worked as a Truck
driver (59 deaths) with Truck drivers recording a fatality rate fourteen times the all
occupations rate. Another one in five deaths involved Labourers (59) of which 21
worked as Farm, forestry & garden workers. There were also 20 deaths involving
Farmers & farm managers. An additional 54 of those killed worked as Technicians
& trades workers of which 20 were Automotive & engineering trades workers and
16 were Construction trades workers.
Industry of employer
Over half (54%) of those fatally injured while working in 200809 were employed
in four industries: Construction (44 deaths); Road freight transport(44);
Agriculture (41) and Manufacturing (25).
In the Road freight transport industry, there were 25.0 deaths per 100 000
workers in 200809, lower than the 200607 peak of 38.2 but still ten times
the all industries average. In Agriculture, the rate was 12.9 deaths per 100000
workers, one of the lowest rates in this industry since the series began. Also
above the all industries average were fatality rates in the Mining and Construction
industries: 7.2 and 4.5 deaths per 100000 workers respectively.
Mechanism of incident
Traffic incidents on public roads resulted in 100 Working fatalities in 200809,
35% of all Working fatalities. Vehicle incidents, including non-public road
incidents, killed 129 workers (45% of all Working fatalities) while 46 workers were
killed from Being hit by moving objects (including vehicles), 33 from Falls from a
height, 21 from Being hit by falling objects and 17 from Drowning/ immersion.
Sex and age

Of the 286 Working fatalities in 200809, 23 (8%) were of women, who
experienced a fatality rate of 0.5 deaths per 100000 workers, just over one-tenth
the rate of 4.4deaths per 100 000 workers for men.
Workers aged 65years and over experienced a fatality rate of 11.5 deaths per
100000 workers, more than four times the rate for all workers in 200809. This
is the lowest fatality rate recorded by this age group since the series began
and is partly due to a large increase in the number of workers in this age group.
Workers aged under 25 years experienced the lowest fatality rate of all age
groups, however this age group recorded its highest rate in the six years of the
series, 1.9 deaths per 100000 workers.
WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC INJURY FATALITIES, AUSTRALIA 200809 ... vii

Commuting fatalities
There were 117 Commuting fatalities identified in 200809: 31 women and 86
men died of injuries sustained on the journey to or from work. Limitations of
the available data mean commuting deaths identified in this report are a known
undercount.
All deaths were incurred in a traffic incident, including five pedestrians struck by
vehicles.
Bystander fatalities
In 200809, 16 of the 41 identified Bystander deaths were of women and girls
and 25 were of men and boys. Four in 10 of the Bystanders were fatally injured in
incidents involving working vehicles or mobile plant and machinery.
viii ... SAFE WORK AUSTRALIA

1 Total fatalities
This study identified a total of 444 work-related traumatic injury fatalities in
Australia during 200809. This comprised 286 (65%) workers who were killed
while at work (Working fatalities); 117 (26%) workers who were killed while
travelling to or from work (Commuting fatalities) and 41 (9%) people who were
killed as a Bystander to someone elses work activity (Bystander fatalities).
Over half (236) of all work-related injury fatalities resulted from traffic incidents.
As Figure 1 shows, the number of Working fatalities has remained fairly stable
over the past four years. While the number of Commuting fatalities has ranged
from 98 in 200708 to 126 in 200506, these numbers are considered to be an
undercount of the true number of workers killed while journeying to or from work.
The 41 Bystander fatalities identified in 200809 is the lowest number identified
in the six years of the series but should not be interpreted as indicating a fall in
these incidences due to the difficulty in capturing information on bystanders. The
highest number of Bystander fatalities, 59, was identified in 200607.
Figure 1 Work-related injury fatalities: number of deaths by type of fatality by
year, Australia, 200304 to 200809
350
300
Number of fatalities
250
200
150
100
50
0
200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809
Worker 267 252 288 300 293 286
Commuter 99 107 126 108 98 117
Bystander 50 54 51 59 54 41
As Figure 2 shows five times as many males are killed as females. This ratio
has not changed over the six years of the series. In 200809, 374 males and 70
females died due to work activity.
Figure 2 Work-related injury fatalities: number of deaths by sex by year,
Australia, 200304 to 200809
500
400
300
200
100
0
200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809
Male 350 355 395 394 380 374
Female 66 58 70 73 65 70
WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC INJURY FATALITIES, AUSTRALIA 200809 ... 1

2 ... SAFE WORK AUSTRALIA
2 Working fatalities
Analysis of the data derived from workers compensation claims, fatality
notifications and coronial records identified 286 fatalities in 200809 due to
injuries sustained while working. As Figure 3 shows, the number of Working
fatalities has remained fairly consistent over the last four years of this data series.
Over the six years the number of Working fatalities ranged from 252 in 200405
to 300 in 200607.
Figure 3 Working fatalities: number of deaths, Australia, 200304 to 200809
400
300
200
100
0
200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809
Figure 4 shows that the fatality rate for Working fatalities varied between 2.6 and
2.9 deaths per 100000 workers over the six years of the series. The fatality rate
for 200809 was 2.6 deaths per 100000 workers, the lowest rate since the series
began (and equal to the fatality rate in 200405) due to higher employment.
Figure 4 Working fatalities: fatality rate (deaths per 100 000 workers), Australia,
200304 to 200809
4
Deaths per 100 000 workers
0
200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809
2.1 Occupation
Figure 5 shows that in 200809, 33% of the Working fatalities (94 deaths) were
workers employed as Machinery operators & drivers. Labourers accounted for
21% of Working fatalities (59 deaths) followed by Technicians & trades workers
at 19% (54 deaths). The lowest numbers of Working fatalities were recorded by
Sales workers and Clerical & administrative workers, both recording 8 deaths in
200809.
Table 1 shows the pattern in 200809 is similar to previous years with the three

occupation groups mentioned above accounting for around 70% of Working
fatalities in each year.
Figure 5 Working fatalities: Proportion of deaths by occupation, Australia, 200809
Machinery operators & drivers

Labourers
Technicians & trades workers
Managers
Professionals
Community & personal service workers
S l k
Sales workers
Clerical & administrative workers
0 10 20 30 40
Percentage of working fatalities
Table 1 Working fatalities: number and fatality rates by occupation, Australia, 200304 to
200809
Occupation 200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809
Machinery operators & drivers 85 78 87 107 111 94
Truck drivers 58 49 50 71 71 59
Labourers 62 48 57 45 58 59
Farm, forestry & garden workers 26 22 17 17 26 21
Technicians & trades workers 38 39 46 58 39 54
Automotive & engineering trades workers 10 12 12 9 10 20
Construction trades workers 10 7 9 25 11 16
Managers 44 46 51 43 37 31
Farmers & farm managers 35 34 28 29 30 20
Professionals 22 18 27 25 27 21
Community & personal service workers 7 18 9 11 6 11
Clerical & administrative workers 1 3 4 5 6 8
Sales workers 8 2 7 5 9 8
Total* 267 252 288 300 293 286
Fatality rate (deaths per 100000 workers)
Machinery operators & drivers 13.4 12.0 13.4 15.3 15.4 13.1
Labourers 5.7 4.3 5.1 3.9 5.0 5.1
Technicians & trades workers 2.6 2.6 3.0 3.7 2.4 3.3
Managers 3.8 3.7 4.0 3.3 2.7 2.2
Professionals 1.2 0.9 1.3 1.2 1.2 0.9
Community & personal service workers 0.9 2.2 1.0 1.2 0.7 1.1
Clerical & administrative workers 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.5
Sales workers 0.8 0.2 0.7 0.5 0.9 0.8
All occupations 2.8 2.6 2.8 2.9 2.7 2.6
* Includes fatalities where occupation was not stated.
Table 1 also shows that while the number of Working fatalities among Machinery
operators & drivers was the highest of all occupations in 200809, the number
has shown improvement from the previous two years. However, the fatality rate of
13.1 deaths per 100000 workers in 200809 was still five times the overall rate.

In 200809, the Labourers occupation group recorded its second highest number
of fatalities in the six year time series, with the highest, 62, recorded in 200304.
This resulted in a rate of 5.1 fatalities per 100 000 workers.
Managers recorded the lowest number of fatalities (31) in 200809 over the
six year time series, corresponding also to the lowest fatality rate of 2.2 in the
series. Automotive & engineering trades workers recorded the highest number
of fatalities (20) across the six year time series in 200809, while Construction
trades workers recorded the second highest (16). Farm, forestry & garden
workers recorded the second lowest number of deaths (21) across the six year
series in 200809.
The following sections provide a more detailed analysis of occupations that had
high numbers of fatalities.
Truck drivers
Within the Machinery operators & drivers occupation group, one occupation
stands out Truck drivers. In 200809, 59 Truck drivers died of work-related
injuries, 21% of all Working fatalities identified in that year. Over the six years of
this series, 358 Truck driver fatalities have been identified 21% of all workers
dying of injuries sustained while at work.
Of the Truck drivers who died in 200809, 68% died from injuries received in
traffic incidents, comprising 40% of all workers killed in traffic incidents that
year. All but 3 of the recorded traffic incident fatalities were injured in a Vehicle
Incident; 1 worker drowned when their truck veered off a bridge and into a river,
another worker was struck by a passing vehicle while they were checking their
load, and another worker was crushed between their own vehicle and a pole
when the truck unexpectedly moved while undertaking maintenance.
There were also 19 Truck drivers who died in non-traffic incidents, 3 of whom
died following falls from their vehicles. Seven of the non-traffic incident deaths
involved Being hit by moving objects, 5 of which involved being hit by vehicles,
1involved a tanker explosion and 1 involved a fatal shooting.
Two of the Truck drivers who died of work injuries during 200809 were women.
Over the six years of the series, 7 female truck drivers have died. Of the male
truck drivers who were killed while working 17 were in the 3544 years age group
and 13 were in the 4554 years age group.
Expressed as a rate, 38 out every 100000 Truck drivers died of work injuries in
200809, three times the rate for Machinery operators & drivers generally and
nearly fifteen times the overall rate for all occupations.
Farm workers
In 200809, 20 of the 31 Managers who died of injuries received while working
were Farmers & farm managers. This represents a 33% decrease from the
previous year, and is the lowest number of fatalities for this occupation group
for the past six years of this series. The inclusion of Farmers & farm managers
within the Managers occupation group inflates the fatality rate for the major
group. While the fatality rate for Managers was 2.2 deaths per 100000 workers in
200809, the fatality rate for the group excluding Farmers & farm managers was
0.9 deaths per 100000 workers. Farmers & farm managers on their own had a
fatality rate of 9.6 deaths per 100000 workers in 200809, nearly four times the
rate for all occupations.

Two of the 20 Farmers & farm managers killed were women, the smallest number
in the past three years. Nearly half (9 deaths) of the Farmers & farm managers
killed were aged 65 years and over. This equates to more than one quarter of
workers aged 65 years and over who died of work injuries in 200809.
Traffic incidents were responsible for 9 deaths among Farmers & farm managers.
Of the 11 incidents not a public road, 5 involved tractors.
In addition to the Farmers & farm managers, there were 21 Farm workers who
died during the same period. Four of these workers were women, 3 of which were
aged under 24 years and 1 aged over 55 years. Of the men, 10 were aged under
35 years. Of the Farm worker fatalities, 9 involved vehicle incidents on rural
properties; 4 involved an ATV and 2 involved a tractor rollover.
Pilots
In 200809, 14 of the 21 Professionals killed were involved in aircraft crashes,
involving both industrial and passenger aircraft. These workers were employed
as Air transport professionals, specifically, pilots and flying instructors, 1 of
whom was a woman. More than half (8) of these workers were employed in the
Agriculture, forestry & fishing industry, 7 of which were employed in the Other
Agriculture & fishing support services industry sector, which includes aerial crop
dusting and mustering. Over the six years of the series, an average of 10 Air
transport professionals have died each year, 42% of all Working fatalities among
Professionals.
2.2 Industry
Figure 6 shows that the highest number of fatalities in 200809 was among
workers in the Agriculture, forestry & fishing industry followed by Transport, postal
& warehousing, together accounting for nearly half of all Working fatalities in that
year.
Figure 6 Working fatalities: number by industry of employer, Australia, 200809
Agriculture, forestry & fishing

Transport, postal & warehousing
Construction
Manufacturing
Public administration & safety
Mining
Other services
Wholesale trade
Administrative & support services
Financial & insurance services
Retail trade
Rental, hiring & real estate services
Health care & social assistance
Electricity, gas, water & waste services
Education & training
Professional, scientific & technical services
Arts & recreation services
Accommodation & food services
Information media & telecommunications
0 15 30 45 60 75
Table 2 shows that the highest fatality rates in 200809 were also in these
industries. The fatality rate in the Agriculture, forestry & fishing industry of
20.4deaths per 100000 workers is nearly eight times the overall fatality rate of

2.7deaths per 100000 workers, and is the highest rate recorded in the industry
since 200304. The fatality rate in the Transport, postal & warehousing industry
of 11.2 was four times the overall rate, but was the lowest rate recorded for this
industry since 200405.
Table 2 Working fatalities: number and fatality rate by industry of employer, Australia,
200304 to 200809
Industry of employer 200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809
Agriculture, forestry & fishing 76 66 58 48 64 73
Agriculture 61 43 43 35 48 41
Transport, postal & warehousing 66 51 58 77 77 66
Road Freight Transport 43 36 41 58 56 44
Construction 36 27 43 50 40 44
Manufacturing 17 22 24 32 25 25
Public administration & safety 8 16 12 15 6 13
Mining 5 8 14 10 8 12
Other services 6 8 7 8 3 10
Wholesale trade 13 10 7 8 11 8
Administrative & support services 6 10 12 12 11 8
Financial & insurance services 0 0 1 0 0 5
Retail trade 5 6 9 13 10 4
Rental, hiring & real estate services 3 3 8 2 10 4
Electricity, gas, water & waste services 7 7 9 4 4 3
Education & training 2 1 8 4 4 3
Health care & social assistance 5 1 3 1 1 3
Professional, scientific & technical services 4 4 5 5 8 2
Arts & recreation services 3 8 3 5 6 2
Accommodation & food services 3 4 6 5 3 1
Information media & telecommunications 2 0 1 1 2 0
All industries 267 252 288 300 293 286
Fatality rate (deaths per 100 000 workers)
Agriculture, forestry & fishing 20.7 18.5 16.7 13.7 18.2 20.4
Agriculture 19.3 14.0 14.3 11.4 16.0 12.9
Transport, postal & warehousing 13.8 10.2 11.5 14.8 14.0 11.2
Road Freight Transport 27.2 26.5 28.7 38.2 34.4 25.0
Construction 4.7 3.2 4.9 5.3 4.1 4.5
Manufacturing 1.6 2.1 2.3 3.1 2.4 2.5
Public administration & safety 1.3 2.4 1.8 2.2 0.9 1.8
Mining 5.2 7.6 10.9 7.4 5.5 7.2
Other services 1.4 1.9 1.7 1.9 0.6 2.2
Wholesale trade 3.4 2.6 1.9 2.0 2.8 2.0
Administrative & support services 1.7 2.9 3.4 3.4 3.2 2.3
Financial & insurance services 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 1.3
Retail trade 0.5 0.5 0.8 1.1 0.8 0.3
Rental, hiring & real estate services 1.7 1.7 4.2 1.0 5.0 2.1
Electricity, gas, water & waste services 7.7 7.3 8.5 3.8 3.5 2.2
Education & training 0.3 0.1 1.1 0.5 0.5 0.4
Health care & social assistance 0.5 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.3
Professional, scientific & technical services 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7 1.0 0.3
Arts & recreation services 2.0 4.9 1.7 2.8 3.1 1.0
Accommodation & food services 0.5 0.6 0.9 0.7 0.4 0.1
Information media & telecommunications 0.9 0.0 0.4 0.4 0.9 0.0
All industries 2.8 2.6 2.8 2.9 2.7 2.6
* Fatality rates in industries where 5 or fewer deaths occurred in most years should be viewed with caution.

Of the 66 workers employed in the Transport, postal & warehousing industry who
died of injuries sustained while at work in 200809, 44 (67%) worked in the Road
freight transport industry, resulting in a fatality rate of 25.0 deaths per 100000
workers.
Within the Agriculture, forestry & fishing industry, two sectors recorded high
numbers of fatalities in 200809. In the Fishing sector, 13 workers died of work
injuries, 12 of which involved drowning, while the Other agriculture & fishing
support services sector recorded 14 deaths, 8 of which involved aircraft crashes.
Despite the Mining industry ranking seventh among the industries in number
of deaths with 12 Working fatalities, the fatality rate of 7.2 deaths per 100000
workers was third highest of all industries.
Because fatality rates are sensitive to the number employed in each industry, they
are liable to show volatility in those industries that employ the fewest workers. For
example, in the Electricity, gas, water & waste services industry, which employed
135 000 workers in 200809, an increase or decrease of a single death will be
reflected in a change in the fatality rate of more than 1death per 100000 workers.
This is important to consider when examining the data in Table 2.
Figure 7 shows the fatality rates for the industry sectors with the highest
numbers of deaths over the six years of the series. There were 44 deaths in the
Construction industry (15%) 44 in the Road freight transport sector (15%); 41 in
the Agriculture sector (14%); and 25 in the Manufacturing industry (9%). Over the
six years of the time series, 55% of all those who died of work injuries worked in
these four industries (934 deaths).
Figure 7 Working fatalities: fatality rate, selected industries, Australia, 200304
to 200809
45
40
35
Road freight
30 transport
25
20
Agriculture
15
10
Construction
5
0 Manufacturing
200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809
Although the number of Working fatalities in the Construction industry

consistently ranked third highest, because the industry employs a much larger
workforce than the Agriculture or Road freight transport industries, fatality rates
are lower and less volatile than those observed in the other industries. This is
also the case in the Manufacturing industry.
The most notable observation is the spike in the Road freight transport industry
in 200607. The number of Working fatalities increased by 41% over the 41 in
the previous year, resulting in a 33% increase in the fatality rate from 28.7 to
38.2deaths per 100000 workers.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Survey of motor vehicle use,
the number of kilometres driven by trucks increased by 10% in the year ending
31October 2007, yet in 200607, the number employed in the Road freight
transport industry increased by only 6%. This may account for some of the sharp
rise in Working fatalities in the industry that year. The number of deaths and the
fatality rate decreased in 200708 and continued this trend in 200809, with the
rate recorded in 200809 the lowest across the six year time series, due in part to
the highest level of employment in the industry during the past six years.
In the Agriculture industry in 200809, both the number of Working fatalities
(41) and the fatality rate (12.9 deaths per 100000 workers) reached the second
lowest level recorded in the industry over the six year time series, the lowest of
which was recorded in 200607 with 35 deaths and 11.4 deaths per 100000
workers.
2.3 Traffic incidents

Over the six years of this series, one-third of Working fatalities arose from injuries
sustained in traffic incidents. The number of traffic incident Working fatalities
averaged 93 per year over the series, with peaks of 105 in 200607, and 100
in 200809. Figure 8 shows the number of Working fatalities due to injuries
sustained in traffic and non-traffic incidents over the six year period.
Figure 8 Working fatalities: number by traffic incident status, Australia, 200304 to
200809
250
Number of deaths
200
150
100
50
0
2003 04
200304 2004 05
200405 2005 06
200506 2006 07
200607 2007 08
200708 2008 09
200809
Non-traffic incident 190 162 197 195 199 186
Traffic incident 77 90 91 105 94 100
The largest proportion of traffic incident Working fatalities was in the Road freight
transport industry. Figure 9 shows that the number of traffic incident fatalities in
the Road freight transport industry declined sharply in 200809. In 200809, just
under a third (31%) of all traffic incident Working fatalities occurred to workers in
the Road freight transport industry.
Figure 9 Traffic incident Working fatalities in the Road Freight transport
industry: number, Australia, 200304 to 200809
80
70
Number of deaths
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2003 04
200304 2004 05
200405 2005 06
200506 2006 07
200607 2007 08
200708 2008 09
200809
Road freight transport 33 27 33 43 46 31
All other industries 44 63 58 62 48 69

Over the period 200304 to 200809, 70% of Working fatalities in the Road
freight transport industry were due to traffic incidents, compared to 24% in all
other industries. Similarly, 68% of the Truck drivers were fatally injured in traffic
incidents, compared to 21% in all other occupations.
Vehicle incidents were responsible for 88 of the 100 traffic incident deaths in
200809. Of the others, 11 were due to Being hit by moving objects, 10 of which
were struck by vehicles and 1 struck while driving by concrete that fell from a
truck and the other worker died as a result of drowning inside their truck when it
left the roadway and fell into a river.
Of the 100 traffic incident Working fatalities, 60 involved a truck, including 28 of
the 31 traffic incident deaths in the Road freight transport industry. Of these 60
incidents involving trucks, 46 of the deceased workers were in the truck, 28 of
which involved no other vehicle, 9 involved another truck and 3 involved a train.
Of the remaining 14 cases, 7 of the deceased workers were in a car or other light
vehicle, 4 were on foot, 2 were riding motorbikes and 1 was on a tractor when a
collision occurred with a truck.
2.4 State/territory of death

As expected, the largest number of Working fatalities in 200809 occurred in the
most populous states: New South Wales (80), Queensland (73) and Victoria (53).
Workers in these three states comprise 77% of Australias working population and
in 200809, accounted for 72% of the Working fatalities, slightly lower than the
six year average of 75%.
Table 3 shows the number of working fatalities due to injuries in traffic incidents
and non-traffic incidents for each jurisdiction over the six year period. In New
South Wales, the number of fatalities has been falling since 200506 mainly due
to a fall in non-traffic incidents, which accounted for 58% of fatalities in 200809.
The number of fatalities recorded in New South Wales in 200809 (80) was the
second lowest number in the series, with 76 fatalities recorded in 200405.
In Victoria, there has been a similar number of fatalities recorded across the six
years of the series, with the exception of 72 recorded in 200607. The number of
traffic incident fatalities has fluctuated since 200607, while the number of non-
traffic incident fatalities has been consistently decreasing. In 200809, non-traffic
incident fatalities accounted for 57% of all fatalities in Victoria.
In Queensland, the number of Working fatalities has remained stable during the
past four years, with the lower number of fatalities recorded in the earliest years
due to a lower number of traffic incident deaths. In 200809, non-traffic incidents
accounted for 63% of fatalities in Queensland, a higher proportion than in New
South Wales and Victoria.
In Tasmania, there were 14 working fatalities in 200809 the highest number
recorded over the past six years. This is mainly attributable to the increase in
traffic incident deaths (7), the highest recorded over the six year time series for
this state.
South Australia recorded its second highest number of Working fatalities in the
six years of the series. All 19 Working fatalities in South Australia were non-traffic
incidents.

Table 3 Working fatalities: number by traffic incident status and state/territory of
death, Australia, 200304 to 200809
State/territory of death 200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809
Not a traffic incident
New South Wales 56 43 66 64 56 46
Victoria 33 34 31 41 37 30
Queensland 43 43 51 44 48 46
Western Australia 28 19 15 26 33 31
South Australia 16 9 18 9 11 19
Tasmania 7 8 8 9 8 7
Northern Territory 6 4 6 1 6 6
Australian Capital Territory 1 2 2 1 0 1
Australia 190 162 197 195 199 186
Traffic incident
New South Wales 31 33 32 30 28 34
Victoria 26 20 24 31 15 23
Queensland 6 18 23 26 30 27
Tasmania 2 2 3 2 4 7
Australia 77 90 91 105 94 100
All Working fatalities
New South Wales 87 76 98 94 84 80
Victoria 59 54 55 72 52 53
Queensland 49 61 74 70 78 73
Tasmania 9 10 11 11 12 14
Australia 267 252 288 300 293 286
Figure 10 shows fatality rates among the states and territories in 200809 ranged
from 1.0 deaths per 100000 workers in the Australian Capital Territory to 6.6 in
the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory has recorded the highest fatality
rate of all states and territories in five of the six years of the series.
Tasmania recorded the second highest fatality rate in 200809 and in most other
years of the series. While Tasmania employs only 2% of workers, it accounted for
5% of the Working fatalities. Half of the workers who died in Tasmania in 200809
worked in the Agriculture, forestry & fishing industry.
Queensland recorded the third highest fatality rate in 200809. Almost 30% of
deaths in the Agriculture, forestry & fishing industry occurred in Queensland, a
substantial increase from the 16% of deaths that occurred in 200708.
Western Australia recorded the fourth highest fatality rate in 200809. More than
half (6 of 12) of the Mining deaths occurred in this state.

Figure 10 Working fatalities: fatality rate by state/territory of death, Australia,
200304 to 200809
Deaths per 100 000 workers 10
0
NT Tas Qld WA SA NSW Vic ACT
200304 8.8 4.3 2.6 3.6 2.5 2.8 2.5 0.5
200405 6.9 4.6 3.1 2.9 1.8 2.4 2.2 1.1
200506 6.7 4.9 3.6 1.8 2.9 3.0 2.2 1.0
200607 2.7 4.9 3.3 3.5 1.3 2.8 2.8 1.0
200708 8.6 5.2 3.6 3.4 2.2 2.5 2.0 0.5
200809 6.6 5.9 3.3 3.2 2.4 2.4 2.0 1.0
2.5 Age and sex

Of the 286 workers who died of injuries sustained at work in 200809, 23 (8%)
were women, the largest number in the six years of this series, but one-twelfth
the number of men (263). Over half of the women died in traffic incidents,
compared to one-third of the men.
Table 4 shows the distribution of Working fatalities by age group and sex.
Thirteen of the 23 women (57%) were aged 34 years and under, while 108 (41%)
of the men were in the 4554 and 5564 years age groups. Overall, just over
one-fifth of Working fatalities were amongst workers in the 4554 years age
group, followed closely by the 2534 years age group.
Table 4 Working fatalities: number by age group and sex, Australia, 200809
Number of fatalities Percentage
Age group Women Men Total Women Men Total
1524 years 7 28 35 30% 11% 12%
2534 years 6 50 56 26% 19% 20%
3544 years 3 47 50 13% 18% 17%
4554 years 4 58 62 17% 22% 22%
5564 years 2 50 52 9% 19% 18%
65 years & over 1 30 31 4% 11% 11%
Total 23 263 286 100% 100% 100%
Almost one-third of the women (7) were employed in the Agriculture, forestry &
fishing industry, 2worked as Farmers & farm managers and 4 as Farm workers,
3 of whom were under 25 years old. Of the 8 Working fatalities among Clerical &
administrative workers, 6 were women, 3 of whom were employed in the Finance
& insurance services industry and were killed in the same helicopter crash.
There were also 4 women killed who were employed in the Transport, postal &
warehousing industry: 1 was a Truck driver and 1 was a pilot.
Because men comprised 92% of those who died of injuries incurred while
working in 200809, the distribution for men by occupation and industry more

closely resembles the overall pattern. All deaths among workers employed as
Plant operators, Construction & mining labourers, Construction trades workers
and Deck & fishing hands occurred to male workers and all but 2 of the Truck
drivers who were killed at work were men. All workers killed in the Construction
industry were also men.
As Figure 11 shows, over the six years of the series the fatality rate among
women has remained relatively stable rising only slightly from 0.4 deaths per
100000 female workers in the early years of the series to 0.5 in 200708 and
200809. The fatality rate for men has been considerably higher, ranging from 4.4
deaths per 100000 male workers in 200405 and 200809 to 4.9 in 200506 and
200607.
Figure 11 Working fatalities: fatality rate by sex, Australia, 200304 to 200809
6.0
s per 100 000 workers
4.5
3.0
1.5
0.0
200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809
Men 4.7 4.4 4.9 4.9 4.6 4.4
Women 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.5
Figure 12 shows that Working fatality rates tend to increase with age. While the
largest proportion of deaths in 200809 was among workers in the 4554 years
age group, the fatality rate of 2.6 deaths per 100000 workers for that age group
was lower than the rates for the two older groups. Because of the relatively small
number of workers in the 65 years & over age group, their fatality rate was more
than three times that of those in the 5564 years age group and six times the rate
of the youngest age group.
Figure 12 Working fatalities: fatality rate by age group, Australia, 200304 to
21
s per 100 000 workers
18
15
12
9
6
3
0
1524 2534 3544 4554 5564 65 & over
200304 1.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 4.4 20.4
200405 1.6 2.3 2.1 2.6 4.2 12.5
200506 1.5 2.9 2.5 2.4 4.5 12.5
200607 1.5 2.2 3.1 2.6 4.3 14.1
200708 1.7 1.5 2.6 2.9 4.2 14.7
200809 1.9 2.4 2.0 2.6 3.6 11.5

200809
Of the 31 Working fatalities among workers in the 65 years & over age group,
13 (42%) were in the Agriculture industry, 9 of whom were working as Farmers
& farm managers. In 200809, the fatality rate among workers in the 65 years
& over age group reached its lowest level in the six years of the series at
11.5deaths per 100000 workers. The 5564 years age group also recorded the
lowest rate over the past six years of the series (3.6). The decreases in these
age groups were due in part to larger increases in employment of around 6-7% in
these age groups compared to 1% overall.
Over one-third (18) of workers in the 3544 years age group who died as a result
of work injuries were employed in the Transport, postal & warehousing industry,
while in the 1524 years age group over one-third (13) of those who died were
employed in the Agriculture, forestry & fishing industry.
2.6 Mechanism of incident

Figure 13 shows that in 200809, 45% of all Working fatalities (129 deaths) were
due to a Vehicle incident. Among these, 88 workers were killed in vehicle crashes
on public roads; 19 in aircraft crashes; and 10 in rollovers of farm, mining and/or
construction vehicles.
Figure 13 Working fatalities: Proportion of deaths by mechanism of incident,
Vehicle incident
Being hit by moving objects
Mechanism
Falls from a height

Being hit by falling objects
Drowning/immersion
Contact with electricity
Being trapped by moving machinery or equipment
Being trapped between stationary & moving objects
All other mechanisms
0 10 20 30 40 50
Percentage of Working fatalities
Australia, 200809
Of the 10 rollovers, 5 were of tractors; 3 were of All-terrain vehicles (ATVs); 1 of
a bulldozer; and 1 of a road roller/compacter. This number of rollover deaths is
consistent with those recorded in the earlier years of this series.
Half of those killed in a Vehicle incident not on a public road in 200809 worked
in the Agriculture sector or Other agriculture & fishing support services sector,
including 5 of those involved in ATV and tractor rollovers and 8 of those killed in
aircraft crashes.
The second most common Mechanism of incident, Being hit by moving objects,
resulted in 46 deaths or 16% of all Working fatalities. In 5 cases it was metal
objects and fragments of glass, metal and wood, while in 2 other cases the
worker was shot. The majority (27) of fatalities due to Being hit by moving objects
however involved a pedestrian hit by a vehicle or mobile plant, including 8 traffic
incidents. In 10 cases, the moving object was a truck; 4 were hit by tractors; 8 by
cars and other light vehicles; 2 by forklift trucks and 3 by self-propelled plant.
Falls from a height caused the injuries in 33 Working fatality cases, including 9

who fell from Buildings & other structures; 6 from Ladders; 4 from Trucks, semi-
trailers, lorries and 3 from Scaffolding. Most of those killed in falling incidents
were either Technicians & trades workers (12) or Labourers and Machinery
operators & drivers (7 each). The Construction industry employed 39% (13) of the
workers who died from injuries sustained in falls.
Another 21 Working fatalities (7%) resulted from Being hit by falling objects. In 7
cases, the falling objects were building materials such as bricks, cement, sawn or
dressed timber and metal, while 3 workers were struck by falling trees.
Drowning/ immersion resulted in 17 fatalities (6%) in 200809, the highest
number recorded across the six year time series. Of these workers, 12 were
employed in the Fishing sector, including 9 employed as Deck & fishing hands
and 2 as Marine transport professionals, as well as 1 Diver. Four incidents led to
the deaths of 8 of these workers; 4 workers died in 2 separate incidents involving
prawn fishing vessels; 2 when a rock lobster vessel was damaged in rough seas;
and 2 when a fish trawling vessel capsized.
Contact with electricity caused the deaths of 9 workers in 200809, the same as
that recorded in 200708, but half the number killed in 200405 and 200506.
The majority (6) of these workers were employed in the Construction industry: 4
were employed as Electricians and 2 were employed as Plumbers.
The number of workers killed as a result of Being trapped by moving machinery
or equipment decreased from 11 in 200708 to 7 in 200809, a number similar to
that recorded in the earlier years of the time series.
Table 5 Working fatalities: number by mechanism of incident, Australia, 200304 to 200809

Mechanism of incident 200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809
Vehicle incident 121 120 120 124 138 129
Rollover 11 11 7 7 16 10
Aircraft crash 19 15 21 7 15 19
Being hit by moving objects 42 25 41 41 35 46
Falls from a height 26 25 33 34 28 34
Being hit by falling objects 16 24 22 25 24 21
Drowning/ immersion 9 4 8 9 11 17
Contact with electricity (electrocution) 11 18 18 15 9 9
Being trapped by moving machinery or equipment 5 6 6 11 11 7
Being trapped between stationary & moving objects 12 11 11 15 8 6
All other mechanisms 25 20 29 26 30 17
Total 267 252 288 300 293 286

3 Commuting fatalities
Analysis of the datasets identified 117 workers, 31 female and 86 male, who died
while travelling to or from work in 200809. This is the second highest number of
Commuting fatalities and follows on from the lowest number recorded in 200708
(98 deaths). The highest number of Commuting fatalities, 126, was recorded in
200506.
The 117 deaths recorded in 200809 represents 1.1commuting deaths per
100000 workers, which is similar to previous years. This rate is known to
understate the true number of workers who die while travelling to or from work.
Many involve vehicle crashes on public roads and the purpose of the journey is
generally not ascertained by investigating officers. While the magnitude of the
problem is unknown, the data are collected on a consistent basis each year and
hence the trend of relatively stable fatality rates can be relied upon.
Figure 14 shows the trend in commuting fatality rates by sex over the six years
of the series. These data show that fatality rates for male workers ranged from
1.5deaths per 100 000 workers in 200708 and 200809 to 2.1 in 200506. The
rates for female workers were more stable at either 0.4 or 0.5 for each year of
the series until the latest year when the female rate increased to 0.6. The peak in
200506 is attributable to a higher number of commuters on foot who sustained
fatal injuries when hit by vehicles (15 deaths in 200506 compared with 7 in
200809).
Figure 14 Commuting fatalities: fatality rate by sex, Australia, 200304 to 200809
2.5
2.0
Male
1.5
Total
1.0
Female
0.5
0.0
200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809
Male 1.7 1.9 2.1 1.8 1.5 1.5
Female 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.6
Total 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.0 0.9 1.1
All of the 117 commuting fatalities in 200809 resulted from injuries sustained in
traffic incidents on public roads. In previous years a few deaths have occurred in
non-traffic incidents. The majority of the deaths (78) were due to crashes where
the commuter was a driver or a passenger in a car, utility or other light vehicle.
An additional 27 commuters were riding motorcycles, 3 were riding bicycles, and
1 was on a bus when they were killed. There were also 5 commuters killed while
walking: 3 were hit by cars, 1 was hit by a truck and 1 by a cyclist.

3.1 Occupation
Table 6 shows that the largest number of commuting fatalities in 200809
occurred among Labourers, with 29 deaths, followed by Technicians & trades
workers with 27.
The highest Commuting fatality rate in 200809 was recorded by Machinery
operators & drivers, 2.8 commuting fatalities per 100 000 workers, more than
twice the rate for all occupations of 1.1. This was closely followed by Labourers
who experienced a fatality rate of 2.5. These two occupation groups have
recorded the highest rates in all six years of the series.
Table 6 Commuting fatalities: number and fatality rates by occupation, Australia,
200304 to 200809
Occupation 200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809
Deaths
Labourers 22 22 35 21 21 29
Technicians & trades workers 19 22 28 26 24 27
Machinery operators & drivers 13 13 19 18 15 20
Professionals 15 12 12 6 14 14
Clerical & administrative workers 12 3 8 9 6 9
Community & personal service workers 7 15 7 8 10 7
Sales workers 2 7 8 10 4 6
Managers 8 12 8 10 3 5
Unstated 1 1 1 0 1 0
Total 99 107 126 108 98 117
Labourers 2.0 2.0 3.2 1.8 1.8 2.5
Technicians & trades workers 1.3 1.5 1.8 1.6 1.5 1.6
Machinery operators & drivers 2.0 2.0 2.9 2.6 2.1 2.8
Professionals 0.8 0.6 0.6 0.3 0.6 0.6
Clerical & administrative workers 0.8 0.2 0.5 0.6 0.4 0.5
Community & personal service workers 0.9 1.8 0.8 0.9 1.1 0.7
Sales workers 0.2 0.7 0.8 1.0 0.4 0.6
Managers 0.7 1.0 0.6 0.8 0.2 0.4
All occupations 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.1 0.9 1.1
At a lower level of the occupation classification, the largest number of Commuting

deaths over the six year period (22) was among Crop farm workers. In addition,
there were 19 Sales assistants, 15 Commercial cleaners and 15 Truck drivers
who were killed on the journey to or from work.
3.2 Industry of employer

The highest number of Commuting deaths in 200809 occurred among
workers employed in the Manufacturing industry (28) followed by workers in
the Construction (14), Retail trade (10) and Agriculture, forestry & fishing (10)
industries. While the Manufacturing industry recorded the highest number of
Commuting deaths in all six years, the pattern in the other industries has varied
from year to year as seen in Table7.
The highest Commuting fatality rate in 200809 was 3.6 commuting fatalities
per 100000 workers employed in the Mining industry. The Mining industry has
recorded the highest fatality rate in four of the six years. Considerable variation
in rates are shown for some industries due to the small number of fatalities
identified.

Table 7 Commuting fatalities: number and fatality rate by selected industry of
employer, Australia, 200304 to 200809
Industry of employer 200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809

Deaths
Manufacturing 15 13 27 21 17 28
Construction 9 9 19 8 12 14
Retail trade 6 11 10 7 7 10
Agriculture, forestry & fishing 7 6 7 7 4 10
Health care & social assistance 12 6 1 6 3 7
Public administration & safety 3 13 7 5 4 7
Accommodation & food services 7 9 7 9 7 6
Mining 1 2 4 5 3 6
Administrative & support services 7 6 9 8 7 5
Professional, scientific & technical services 9 2 4 2 4 5
Transport, postal & warehousing 7 5 8 13 5 4
Education & training 5 3 5 2 7 4
Wholesale trade 5 7 7 2 5 3
Other services 1 3 2 5 4 3
Other and unknown industries(a) 6 12 9 8 9 5
Total 99 107 126 108 98 117
Manufacturing 1.5 1.2 2.6 2.1 1.6 2.8
Construction 1.2 1.1 2.2 0.8 1.2 1.4
Retail trade 0.5 1.0 0.9 0.6 0.6 0.8
Agriculture, forestry & fishing 1.9 1.7 2.0 2.0 1.1 2.8
Health care & social assistance 1.3 0.6 0.1 0.6 0.3 0.6
Public administration & safety 0.5 2.0 1.0 0.7 0.6 1.0
Accommodation & food services 1.1 1.3 1.0 1.3 1.0 0.8
Mining 1.0 1.9 3.1 3.7 2.1 3.6
Administrative & support services 2.0 1.7 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.5
Professional, scientific & technical services 1.4 0.3 0.6 0.3 0.5 0.6
Transport, postal & warehousing 1.5 1.0 1.6 2.5 0.9 0.7
Education & training 0.7 0.4 0.7 0.3 0.9 0.5
Wholesale trade 1.3 1.8 1.9 0.5 1.3 0.7
Other services 0.6 1.2 0.8 0.7 0.8 0.4
All industries (a) 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.1 0.9 1.1
(a) includes Electricity, gas, water & waste services; Arts & recreation services; Rental, hiring & real estate services; Financial & insurance
services; and Information media & telecommunications
At a lower level of the industry classification, the largest number of Commuting

deaths over the six year period (17) was among those working in Cafes &
restaurants and Meat processing. This was followed by those working in
Hospitals (15), Coal mining (14), and Supermarket & grocery stores (14).
3.3 Age and sex

To enable a more robust comparison, deaths for the past six years have been
combined. Figure 15 shows that the number of workers killed while commuting
decreased with age, from 180 workers in the Less than 25 years age group killed
over the six years down to 18 in the 65 years or more age group.
Figure 15 shows that there was no pattern by age for female workers with the
number of deaths ranging from 24 for both the 3544 years and 5564 years age
groups to 48 in the Less than 25 years age group. In addition there were 2 deaths
to female workers in the 65 years and over age group.
Commuting deaths incurred by male workers showed a decreasing pattern with
age. Similar numbers of deaths were recorded for the Less than 25 years and the

2534 years age groups (132 and 128, respectively) and then decreased as age
increased to record 16 deaths for the 65 years and over age group.
Figure 15 Commuting fatalities: number by age group and sex, Australia, 200304
to 200809 combined
200
Female
Male
150
Numberr of deaths
100
50
0
Less than 25 2534 3544 4554 5564 65 & over
Age group (years)
Figure 16 shows that the Less than 25 years age group experienced the highest
fatality rate 1.7 commuting fatalities per 100000 workers. Fatality rates then
decreased with age up to the 4554 years age group (0.8) before climbing again
with the 65 years and over age group recording the second highest fatality rate
1.4 commuting fatalities per 100000 workers. This age group accounts for just
2% of workers.
Figure 16 Commuting fatalities: fatality rate by age group, Australia, 200304 to
200809 combined
1.8
1.5
er 100 000 workers
1.2
0.9
Deaths per
0.6
0.3
0.0
Less than 25 2534 3544 4554 5564 65 & over
Age group (years)

4 Bystander fatalities
This study identified 41 people who died from injuries due to another persons
work activity in 200809. This is the lowest number of deaths identified in any
one year since the series began. The highest number (59) was identified in
200607 of which 10 were killed when a truck hit a train at Kerang.
Over the six year period between 200304 and 200809, 41% of the Bystanders
killed were female. In 200809, 16 Bystanders were female.
The number of Bystander deaths identified in any one year is almost certainly an
undercount. While NCIS is likely to capture information on these deaths, coronial
records seldom provide sufficient information to determine the connection
between the fatal incident and someone elses work activity. These types of
incidents are not compensated through the workers compensation system and
few are captured through the notification system.
It should be noted that deaths in vehicle collisions only count as Bystander
fatalities where available documentation shows the driver of the work vehicle
to be at fault. Year on year fluctuations in Bystander fatalities may be due to
different identification procedures and should not be used to indicate a change in
the risk of work activity to Bystanders.
4.1 Age
Table 8 shows that the highest number of Bystander fatalities in 200809 was
among those in the 1524 years age group. The 13 deaths in this age group is
more than twice the number recorded in any of the previous six years. Vehicle
incidents accounted for 7 of the 13 deaths.
There were 10 Bystander fatalities identified in the Under 15 years age group.
This is smaller than in previous years where higher numbers of deaths due to
drownings on farms and being hit by working vehicles were identified.
Table 8 Bystander fatalities: number by age group, Australia, 200304 to 200809
Age group 200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809
Under 15 years 15 12 12 24 18 10
1524 years 4 4 7 1 6 13
2534 years 6 7 6 3 6 5
3544 years 6 10 2 5 4 3
4554 years 4 5 2 12 8 3
5564 years 7 6 8 5 2 3
65 years and over 8 10 14 9 10 4
Total 50 54 51 59 54 41
4.2 Location of incident

Because of the methods used to identify Bystander fatalities, crash events on
public roads are the dominant cause of injury. In 200809, nearly half (46%) of
Bystander fatalities involved collisions on public roads, including 5 pedestrians
struck by vehicles. This proportion is considerably smaller than in previous years.
Over the six years of this series, traffic incidents have accounted for 54% of all
Bystander fatalities.

Apart from traffic incidents there were 7 Bystanders who died from injuries
incurred on agricultural properties. Within this group there were 3 children who
fell off tractors; 1 child who fell off the tray of a ute; and 1 child who drowned in
a farm dam. Over the six year period, 11% of Bystander fatalities took place on
agricultural properties.
4.3 Mechanism of incident

Table 9 shows that in 200809, 44% (18 deaths) of the Bystander fatalities were
due to a Vehicle incident. Of these, 10 involved collisions between a working
vehicle and a non-working vehicle with 8 involving a truck crashing into a light car
or motorbike. The other 8 deaths involved non-working passengers being carried
in work vehicles, 3 of which were killed in the same bus crash and 3 were killed
in separate plane crashes. Over the six years of this series, 49% of Bystander
fatalities were the result of a Vehicle incident.
There were 7 deaths in 200809 that involved Being hit by moving objects, all of
which involved a vehicle, including 1 where the tyre from a vehicle came loose
and hit a pedestrian. A range of vehicles were involved. Over the six year period
20% of Bystanders were killed as a result of Being hit by moving objects.
Falls killed 6 Bystanders in 200809. In 3 cases, children fell from moving
tractors. Two of the children were being carried in the bucket attachment at the
front of the tractor and the third was being carried on the hydraulic forks. Over the
six year period 6% of Bystanders were killed as a result of Falls.
Drowning incidents in a work environment resulted in the deaths of 5 people in
200809. Two were killed in a white water rafting incident, 1 during a dive,1 on a
farm and 1 at a weir. Over the six year period 12% of Bystanders were killed as a
result of Drowning.
Table 9 Bystander fatalities: number by mechanism of incident, Australia, 200304
to 200809
Mechanism of incident 200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809
Vehicle incident 23 26 24 36 24 18
Being hit by moving objects 12 15 11 6 13 7
Falls 3 3 4 2 0 6
Drowning/immersion 5 5 5 9 8 5
Being hit by falling objects 2 2 3 3 4 1
All other mechanisms 5 3 4 3 5 4
Total 50 54 51 59 54 41

Explanatory Notes
1 Inclusions
This report covers fatalities due to work-related injuries and explicitly excludes
deaths attributable to disease and other natural causes. Among conditions
specifically included as injuries are those arising from poisonous plants and
animals, environmental conditions (e.g. frostbite), allergic reactions, and
embolisms. Heart attacks and strokes are regarded as natural causes, but where
available information shows that a work-related injury directly triggers a fatal
heart attack or stroke, the fatality is included.
Working fatalities
All cases identified of persons who die of injuries sustained while they are
working are included in this report. For this purpose, working includes travelling
from one workplace to another. So a tradesperson or professional killed driving
from one job or client to the next counts as a Working fatality rather than a
Commuting fatality. Similarly, a worker killed in an air crash on their way to a
conference would be a Working fatality.
The number of Working fatalities shown in this report is considered reliable,
however, some deaths, particularly those related to traffic incidents, may be missed
due to the way these deaths are identified in the various sources. The Notified
Fatalities Collection (NFC) rarely records these deaths as they are generally
investigated by the police and the information in the National Coronial Information
System (NCIS) relies heavily on information collected by the police which may
not include sufficient information to identify the deceased as working at the time
of the incident.
Fatal commuting incidents are only included in this publication where sufficient
information is available to determine with confidence that the injuries were
incurred while travelling to or from work or during a work break. Compensation
data provides the best means of identification of Commuting fatalities but not all
jurisdictions offer workers compensation while travelling to or from work. The
jurisdictions that offer workers compensation for commuting injuries are New
South Wales (with some restrictions); Queensland (with some restrictions); the
Northern Territory but only where the worker was on foot or using a pushbike; the
Australian Capital Territory; Comcare (up to March 2007), and Seacare.
Jurisdictions that do not cover workers while commuting are Victoria, South
Australia (unless there was a real and substantial connection between the
employment and the accident), Western Australia and Tasmania.
While the NCIS would have records for all deaths involving vehicles, specific
details of the reasons for travel are seldom available, making it difficult to identify
a fatality decisively as a Commuting fatality from coronial records alone.
Commuting deaths are not generally notifiable under work health and safety
legislation.
These factors contribute to an undercount of Commuting deaths in this
publication and movements over time should be used with caution.

There are many difficulties in identifying these deaths within the databases
used in this study Bystanders can not seek compensation through workers
compensation; notifications depend on the work health and safety legislation
of the jurisdiction; and they are only identified in the coronial database when
sufficiently detailed information on the circumstances of all parties to the
death is available. Most of the Bystander deaths in this report were identified
by examining NCIS records involving heavy or light commercial vehicles, so
Bystander deaths resulting from collisions involving cars and other light vehicles
engaged in work activity that NCIS does not code as work-related are unlikely to
have been identified. Estimates of Bystander fatalities in this collection should
therefore be regarded as being an undercount and movements over time
considered with caution.
Deaths resulting from criminal activity

Persons sustaining fatal injuries at work or while commuting as a result of
someone elses criminal activity are included in this collection. Where the criminal
activity is incidental to legitimate work activity, for example, where a worker dies
of an injury sustained while under the influence of legal or illegal substances, the
fatality is included. Non-working persons fatally injured in an incident involving
criminals and law enforcement officers, security officers, etc. are included as
Bystanders.
Classification of fatalities
Persons who die of injuries sustained at work are included among Working
fatalities even when the cause of the injury is another persons work activity.
Similarly, deaths due to injuries sustained while commuting are classified as
Commuting fatalities regardless of fault or cause.
2 Exclusions
Deaths due to natural causes

Natural causes include heart attacks, strokes and diseases.
Deaths due to complications of surgical and medical care

Although the death of patients who die as a result of medical negligence or
malpractice are in principle Bystander fatalities, deaths arising from such
iatrogenic injuries are specifically excluded from this collection.
Suicide
The scope of this project excludes deaths resulting from self-harm because it is
difficult to assess the extent of the connection between work and a decision to
take ones own life, even when detailed information is available.
Deaths of persons undertaking criminal activity

Work-related injury fatalities exclude deaths of persons fatally injured while
undertaking criminal activities, such as gaining illegal entry into a building or work
site.

3 Data sources
This study has used information from three datasets: the NDS, the NFC and the
NCIS. Each of these datasets has limitations, so all three datasets are needed to
estimate the number of work-related deaths occurring each year.
The National Data Set for Compensation-based Statistics (NDS)

The scope of the NDS is all workers compensation claims made by or for an
employee (other than an employee of the defence forces). The NDS is compiled
annually by Safe Work Australia from data supplied by the state, territory and
Australian Government workers compensation authorities. The NDS has
consistent data from 200001 onwards.
The strengths of the NDS are that it:
usually codes Industry of employer accurately
is supported by several classification systems, including the Australian
and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), the
Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations
(ANZSCO) and the Safe Work Australia Type of Occurrence
Classification System (TOOCS), and
independently assesses work-relatedness.
The weaknesses of the NDS are that:
workers compensation is only available to employees, so the NDS does
not provide good coverage of deaths in industries where a significant
proportion is self-employed.
some work-related injury fatalities do not appear in the NDS because
there are no dependants to lodge a claim.
date of death is not available for all deaths although jurisdictions are
progressively introducing this data item
only jurisdictions where commuting injuries are compensable provide
data on Commuting fatalities
Bystander deaths are not compensable in any jurisdiction and are
therefore out of scope of the NDS collection
narratives are not provided
coding of Mechanism, Agency, Breakdown agency, Nature of injury,
Bodily location and Occupation may not be complete or accurate
data are not available until a year after the reference period
date of birth may not be accurate, and
names are not provided.
Notified Fatalities Collection (NFC)

Since 1 July 2003, Safe Work Australia has maintained a database of work-
related injury fatalities notified to work health and safety authorities in each
jurisdiction under their work health and safety legislation. There are thirteen work
health and safety jurisdictions in Australia that report to Safe Work Australia:
each of the eight states and territories
the Commonwealth (Comcare)
the mining sectors in New South Wales, Queensland and Western
Australia, and

the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority (NOPSA).
The strengths of the NFC are that:
it captures fatalities not covered by the NDS such as deaths to self-
employed or contract workers and bystanders
information available within a few months of incident
names are supplied by some jurisdictions, and
it provides a brief narrative account of the circumstances of the fatality.
The weaknesses of the NFC are that:
data are only available from 200304 onwards
limited information is available at the time of notification
information on age is often inaccurate
there is limited coverage of transport-related deaths because these
deaths are notified to and investigated by the police, road traffic authority
or, in the case of plane crashes and marine deaths, by Commonwealth
agencies, and
it tends to capture work-related deaths only when they occur shortly after
the injury.
National Coroners Information System (NCIS)

The NCIS was officially launched in July 2000 and is a national internet-based
data storage and retrieval system of coronial cases in Australia. The NCIS
holds information on all fatalities referred to a coroner in Australia. Each state
and territory in Australia has a licence agreement with the Victorian Institute
of Forensic Medicine (VIFM) permitting the transfer of coronial information for
storage and dissemination via the NCIS.
The strengths of the NCIS are that:
the scope of the collection includes all deaths reported to an Australian
coroner regardless of compensation status or work arrangement
when available, attachments to records, including police narratives
and coronial findings, may shed light on the causes and circumstances
surrounding a fatal incident
information available within a few months of incident, and
there is a work-relatedness assessment against standard criteria,
although not all work-related fatalities are correctly coded.
The weaknesses of the NCIS include:
access to records for open cases is restricted in Western Australia
crucial data items, including name, date of birth and date of death, as
well as documentation, may be missing in records for open cases and
even some closed cases, and
identification of Bystander deaths may not be possible where
accompanying documentation is absent or uninformative, especially for
road-related fatalities.
The coding of work-relatedness in the NCIS
NCIS records are not always correctly coded for work-relatedness. Certain types
of incidents, including some traffic incidents, may not be coded as work-related.
In addition, the work-related flag may not be finalised until the case is closed. To

overcome some of these issues, fatalities that meet certain criteria are extracted
for closer examination. These include:
fatalities marked as work-related
fatalities that involved a heavy vehicle or light commercial vehicle
fatalities that occurred at a farm, industrial or commercial workplace
fatalities where cause is not known yet, and
fatalities where some working activity is noted.
While nearly all deaths were eventually found in the NCIS, the initial extraction of
cases found only around 5060% of the cases eventually included in the study
as shown in Table 10. These data only go back to 200405 as the extraction from
the NCIS in 200304 was done on a different basis and is not comparable.
Table 10 Work-related injury fatalities and proportion by activity and dataset before
matching, Australia, 200405 to 200809
Number of fatalities Proportions
200405 200506 200607 200708 200809 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809
Working fatalities
NDS 149 189 193 182 171 59% 64% 63% 62% 55%
NFC 124 140 152 138 149 48% 48% 50% 47% 52%
NCIS 243 283 287 272 154 70% 62% 56% 57% 54%
Total 252 288 300 293 286 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
NDS 77 83 76 64 76 72% 66% 68% 65% 62%
NFC 0 0 2 0 0 0% 0% 1% 0% 0%
NCIS 48 86 45 53 57 45% 68% 41% 55% 50%
Total 107 126 108 98 117 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
NDS 0 0 0 0 0 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
NFC 16 11 12 11 16 26% 22% 19% 19% 39%
NCIS 33 21 23 27 6 62% 40% 43% 50% 15%
Total 54 51 59 54 41 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
All work-related injury fatalities
NDS 226 272 269 246 247 54% 57% 57% 55% 52%
NFC 140 151 166 149 165 33% 32% 34% 33% 37%
NCIS 324 390 355 352 217 62% 62% 50% 56% 49%
Total 413 465 467 445 444 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Apart from the three basic sources, some additional work-related deaths are
identified through media coverage and via accident investigation reports from the
Australian Transport Safety Bureau. Some of these related to plane crashes, train
crashes and maritime incidents are investigated by Commonwealth authorities
and therefore not notified. Such cases are included in the collection where details
can be verified with NCIS information.
Following the matching process and verification of details using the NCIS, many
additional work-related deaths were identified in the NCIS. Figure 17 shows that
despite the increase in the number of work-related deaths over the six years of
this series, the proportion of cases each dataset contributed remained relatively
stable over the period. Nearly all deaths have been found in the NCIS for the first
few years of this study but the percentage has fallen to 95% for the current year.
Just over half were identified in the NDS and about one-third in the NFC.

Figure 17 All work-related fatalities: Dataset contribution after matching, 200304
to 200809
100%
Percentage of all fatalities

80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809
NCIS NDS NFC
Of the 444 work-related injury fatalities enumerated in this report for 200809,
just 102(23%) were identified in all three datasets. Another 136 (31%) were
found only in NCIS records, 14 only in the NDS, and 1 only in the NFC. When
considering only Working fatalities, 36% were found in all three datasets.
4 Coverage of Working fatalities

Table 11 shows the proportion of working deaths in each industry captured by
each dataset in 200809. The NCIS (after the matching process was completed)
captured all deaths in 13 of the 18 ANZSIC industry divisions where deaths were
identified. The deaths that could not be identified in NCIS may involve police
investigations that must be completed before the coroner investigates the death.
Table 11 Proportion of Working fatalities by dataset by Industry of employer,
Australia, 200809
Number of
Industry of employer NCIS NDS NFC Deaths
Agriculture, forestry & fishing 99% 41% 56% 73
Transport, postal & warehousing 95% 65% 30% 66
Construction 89% 59% 75% 44
Manufacturing 100% 84% 52% 25
Public administration & safety 100% 31% 62% 13
Mining 100% 83% 83% 12
Other services 90% 60% 20% 10
Administrative & support services 100% 100% 63% 8
Wholesale trade 88% 100% 63% 8
Financial & insurance services 100% 20% 0% 5
Rental, hiring & real estate services 100% 50% 25% 4
Retail trade 100% 75% 50% 4
Electricity, gas, water and waste services 100% 100% 100% 3
Health care & social assistance 100% 67% 67% 3
Education & training 100% 67% 67% 3
Arts & recreation services 100% 50% 50% 2
Professional, scientific & technical services 100% 50% 0% 2
Accommodation & food services 100% 0% 100% 1
All industries 96% 60% 52% 286
Only 47% of the Working fatalities identified in this study in 200809 were
marked as work-related in the NCIS, in part due to the high proportion of open

cases (51%). Among records for 200304, only 10% of which remain open, 77%
of Working fatalities are now coded as work-related.
The NDS was able to identify all deaths in only three industries in 200809.
This is in part due to workers compensation only being available to employees
and some industries have a lower proportion of workers who are classed
as employees. Table 12 shows that the Agriculture, forestry and fishing and
Construction industries have the lower percentage of workers who are employee.
The NDS captured 41% and 59% of all work-related deaths in these industries
respectively. The NDS only captured 1 any of the 4 deaths in the Financial &
insurance services sector despite 95% of workers being employees. The NDS
also poorly captured deaths in Public administration & safety which includes the
defence force, claims from which are not captured by the NDS.
Table 12 Proportion of workers who were Employees by industry of employer,
Australia, 200809
Industry of employer Percentage employees
Agriculture, forestry & fishing 48
Mining 99
Manufacturing 93
Electricity, gas, water & waste services 98
Construction 71
Wholesale trade 93
Retail trade 92
Accommodation & food services 93
Transport, postal & warehousing 86
Information media & telecommunications 95
Financial & insurance services 96
Rental, hiring & real estate services 89
Professional, scientific & technical services 84
Administrative & support services 81
Public administration & safety 99
Education & training 95
Health care & social assistance 94
Arts & recreation services 82
Other services 79
5 Calculation of fatality rates

Fatality rates are calculated as the number of deaths divided by the number of
workers in the reference period. Employment figures from ABS quarterly Labour
force data are used in calculating fatality rates in this publication. The number
of workers is derived from the average of all persons employed over the four
quarters of the financial year for each sex, age group, industry, occupation, or
state or territory.
Although worker estimates are not available from the Labour Force Survey for
occupations at the unit group level, estimates for Truck drivers, Farmhands and
Air transport professionals were estimated by multiplying the estimate for a higher
level ASCO category by the proportion of Truck drivers, Farmhands, and Air
transport professionals within that category identified in the 2006 Census.
Because work-related injury fatalities of Australian Defence Force (ADF)
personnel within Australia are in scope of this report, worker estimates for the
Public administration & safety industry division and the total of all industries,
as well as each sex and state or territory are supplemented with the average
of levels of ADF permanent members reported in the Department of Defence

Annual Report reported at 30 June 2007 and 30 June 2008. In 200809, there
were 3 ADF fatalities in scope of this collection.
Working fatalities include volunteers who can not be accounted for in the worker
estimates. This study identified one worker in 200304 and one 200708 who
were volunteering their labour when they were killed. Similarly the worker
estimates do not include children under 15. In 200304, 200506 and 200607,
there was one working fatality of a child under the age of 15 years. The inclusion
of these deaths without increasing the worker estimates does not impact on the
fatality rates in this publication.
Change of industry and occupation classifications

This publication has used the latest versions of the industry and occupation
classifications to match the worker estimates produced by the ABS. All coding of
the deceaseds occupation and industry in the database was concorded to the
new classifications. New worker estimates based on the new classifications were
obtained from the ABS.
Working fatalities and Commuting fatality numbers using the previous industry
classification (ANZSIC93) are shown in Table 13 and the previous occupation
classification (ASCO) are shown in Table 14 for comparison with reports not
using the new classifications.
Table 13 Work-related fatalities: number by Industry of employer (ANZSIC93),
Australia, 200809
Industry of employer Working Commuting

Agriculture, forestry & fishing 73 10
Mining 12 6
Manufacturing 25 28
Electricity, gas & water supply 1 1
Construction 44 14
Wholesale trade 8 3
Retail trade 11 13
Accommodation, cafes & restaurants 0 4
Transport & storage 65 4
Communication services 1 0
Finance & insurance 5 0
Property & business services 16 8
Government administration & defence 8 7
Education 1 4
Health & community services 3 8
Cultural & recreational services 4 0
Personal & other services 9 4
Unknown 0 3
Table 14 Work-related fatalities: number by Occupation (ASCO), Australia, 200809
Industry of employer Working Commuting

Managers & administrators 29 3
Professionals 21 13
Associate professionals 10 10
Tradespersons & related workers 56 22
Advanced clerical & service workers 4 2
Intermediate clerical, sales & service workers 9 13
Intermediate production & transport workers 113 21
Elementary clerical, sales & service workers 5 8
Labourers & related workers 39 25

6 Identification of matching cases
Details of the deaths in each of the three datasets were compared in order to
identify duplicate records. In general, matching was achieved by sorting the death
records by date variables and reviewing groups of records that had the same
or similar values. Pairs or triplets that looked plausible on the basis of date of
death were scrutinised carefully, using other data items to confirm or refute the
match. The other data items used most often were age, sex, jurisdiction, text
descriptions (for NFC and NCIS cases), date of birth (for NCIS and NDS cases),
Mechanism of incident, industry, occupation, and Agency (in roughly that order of
priority).
A number of cases were found where the death occurred in one jurisdiction
but the NDS record came from the jurisdiction of the employer. Extra care was
taken with these records to confirm a match. This is particularly an issue for NDS
records from the Comcare jurisdiction, which covers Commonwealth employees
plus the employees of certain self-insuring organisations and which do not
specify the geographical location where the fatal injury occurred.
The NCIS database was interrogated to find records corresponding to NDS and
NFC records that were not matched to a record in the original NCIS extract.
Where a match was found, it often provided invaluable details missing in the
NDS and NFC records. Cases identified only through the media and Australian
Transport Safety Bureau reports were also confirmed through the NCIS.
Since virtually all injury deaths in Australia are reported to the coroner, it is
reasonable to expect that the NCIS would include records for all work-related
traumatic injury fatalities. The reason not all NDS and NFC records have been
matched to an NCIS record is that some jurisdictions restrict the information
available on open cases. In addition, the coroner will not commence an inquest
until all criminal proceedings have been completed. So while NCIS may have
assigned a record to the case, not all information will be accessible. Records of
open cases from Western Australia, for example, suppress the decedents name.
Open cases from Queensland do not include a date of death and names are also
sometimes suppressed.
This impacts on the ability of the NCIS to fill gaps in the information contained
in the other data sources. The NCIS is the only one of the three datasets likely
to record, for example, the traffic incident death of a self-employed truck driver.
If the NCIS record for such a case is not coded or incorrectly coded for work-
relatedness, it would not be included in the initial extract. For this reason, all
cases involving a heavy vehicle, whether flagged as work-related or not, were
extracted and scrutinised to determine whether they were in scope for this
collection.
The availability of dates for the data matching process

Dates were very important in the matching process. Dates of incident, death and
birth were usually consistent across the data sources, suggesting that the date
information was often of good quality. While the NDS provides the date of the
injury incident, not all jurisdictions consistently include date of death, although
this is generally unproblematic because in traumatic fatality cases, death often
occurs on the same day as the incident. Date of death is being progressively
supplied by the jurisdictions with the introduction of the third edition of the NDS
(NDS3).

Of the three data sources, the NCIS has the best array of dates, although date
of birth and date of death are not available for all open cases and the NCIS web
interface only permits searching on month and year of birth. Because date of
death is not always available for open cases, date of notification is used as an
initial extraction tool.
Industry information
Industry analysis for Working and Commuting fatalities is based on Industry of
employer because relevant denominators are available, permitting calculation of
fatality rates by industry. As the employer of a bystander is irrelevant to analysis
and usually unknown, Bystander fatalities are classified by Location of incident,
which may be a specific workplace that can be coded by industry.
Where different data sources coded the same case to different Industries of
employer and further details were not available from narrative sources, this report
has generally accepted NDS coding as the most reliable, as the claim is directly
linked to the policy of the employer of the deceased worker.
The timing of data extraction

The NDS dataset for a given year pertains to claims that were submitted during
that year regardless of when the death occurred. The data are usually extracted
by the jurisdictions in the November following the reference financial year. There
are instances where the insurer has yet to determine liability by the time the data
are extracted. Therefore additional deaths may be found using this source in
future years. As more jurisdictions supply data in NDS3 format, date of death will
become increasingly available for extraction purposes.
The timing of NCIS data extraction also bears on the number of work-related
deaths captured for this project. Because date of death is not available for
all NCIS records, NCIS data are currently extracted on the basis of date of
notification to the coroner on the assumption that notification occurs shortly after
a death. For this study, the NCIS was interrogated until 15April 2011 for coronial
records matching records in the other datasets.
There are no issues with the timing of extraction from the NFC as updates to the
dataset are rarely received more than six months after the fatality.

Glossary
Bystander fatality The death of a person who dies as a result of injuries
sustained as a result of another persons work activity and
who was not engaged in work activity of their own or travelling
to or from their own workplace at the time of the injury.
A traffic incident death is only classified as a Bystander fatality
when attributable to someone elses work activity. Typically,
this means the driver of a work vehicle is at fault. Cases
where fault could not be determined with sufficient confidence
were excluded.
Commuting fatality The death of a person who dies as a result of injuries

sustained while travelling to or from work, including those
whose injury results from anothers work activity.
Employed The denominators used in calculating fatality rates in this

report are based on ABS estimates of Employed persons, as
defined in Labour force, Australia (ABS cat no 6202.0). This
population includes Employees, who work for an employer;
self employed persons, whether they employ others or not;
and those who work without pay for a family business or farm.
It excludes persons whose only work is voluntary.
Employee A person who works for a public or private employer and
receives remuneration in wages, salary, a retainer fee from
their employer while working on a commission basis, tips,
piece-rates, or payment in kind; or a person who operates
his or her own incorporated enterprise with or without hiring
employees. (Source: ABS 2007)
Fatality rate The number killed as a result of work-related injury expressed

as a per-capita rate against the population at risk of work-
related injury. In this report the rate is expressed as the
number of deaths per 100 000 Employed persons: for brevity
this is usually expressed as deaths per 100 000 workers.
See Paragraph 5 of the Explanatory notes for further details.
Industry A grouping of businesses which carry out similar economic

activities. Fatalities data in this publication have been coded
to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial
Classification (ANZSIC) 2006 and unless specified are shown
at the industry division level.
Injury A condition coded to External Causes of morbidity

and mortality and Injury, poisoning and certain other
consequences of external causes in the International
Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health
Problems, Tenth Revision, Australian Modification (ICD-10-
AM).

Job A set of tasks designed to be performed by one person for an
employer (including self-employment) in return for payment or
profit. (Source: ANZSCO, p. 6).
Location of incident The location at which the fatal injury occurred. Where this
is an identifiable workplace, the location is coded to the
appropriate category of ANZSIC 2006. In many cases injuries
occur in public places and are coded as such.
Mechanism of The action, exposure or event which best describes the
incident circumstances that resulted in the most serious injury.
Occupation A set of jobs with similar sets of tasks. Fatalities data in this
publication have been coded to the Australian and New
Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO)
First edition and unless specified are shown at the major
group level.
Traffic incident A collision on a public road between any vehicle or self-
propelled plant and anything else, including a pedestrian.
Type of occurrence A suite of four classifications developed by the National

classification system Occupational Health and Safety Commission, a predecessor
of Safe Work Australia, comprising:
(TOOCS)
the Nature of injury/disease classification
the Bodily location of injury/disease classification
the Mechanism of incident/disease classification
the Agency of injury/disease classification.
Although the most current version is version 3.1, data was
coded principally to version 2.1, with a few additional codes
from later versions.
Working fatality The death of a person who dies as a result of injuries
sustained while at work, including those whose injury results
from anothers work activity.

References
Australian Bureau of Statistics. 1997. ASCO Australian standard classification of
occupations, second edition. (ABS cat. no. 1220.0). Canberra: ABS. http://www.
abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/allprimarymainfeatures/4B8C877612EC0AE4C
A2571E5007A6B27?opendocument
Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2006. ANZSCO Australian and New Zealand standard
classification of occupations, first edition. (ABS cat. no. 1220.0). Canberra: ABS.
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/1220.0
Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2007. Labour Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods,
Aug 2006. (ABS cat. no. 6102.0.55.001). Canberra: ABS. http://www.abs.gov.au/
ausstats/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/6102.0.55.001Contents1Aug%202006?op
endocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=6102.0.55.001&issue=Aug%20
2006&num=&view=
Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2008. Survey of motor vehicle use, Australia, August 2008.
(ABS cat. no. 9208.0). Canberra: ABS. http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/
subscriber.nsf/0/40BA5EB0863D18F8CA2574B2000FD936/$File/92080_12%20
months%20ended%2031%20october%202007.pdf
Australian Bureau of Statistics. 2009. Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly, May
2009. (ABS cat. no. 6291.0.55.001). Canberra: ABS. http://www.abs.gov.au/
AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6291.0.55.003May%202009?OpenDocument
Australian Bureau of Statistics and New Zealand Department of Statistics. 1993.
Australian and New Zealand standard industrial classification 1993 ANZSIC.
Canberra and Wellington: ABS and NZDoS. (ABS cat. no. 1292.0) http://www.
abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/allprimarymainfeatures/E05F0987CD26ABF0CA2
57122001AC9BC?opendocument
Australian Bureau of Statistics and New Zealand Department of Statistics. 2006 Australian
and New Zealand standard industrial classification 2006 ANZSIC. Canberra
and Wellington: ABS and NZDoS. (ABS cat. no. 1292.0) http://www.abs.gov.au/
ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/1292.0
National Centre for Classification in Health. 2006. The International Statistical
Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision,
Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM). Sydney: NCCH.
National Occupational Health & Safety Commission. 2002b. Type of occurrence
classification system. Revised edition 2.1. Canberra: NOHSC. http://www.
safeworkaustralia.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/D31DAD21-2078-4CC8-8828-
FA3C0CCEDC0A/0/toocs21may2002.pdf

Inquires
For further information regarding the contents ofthis publication contact:
The Data & Analysis Section
Safe Work Australia
(02) 6121 9256

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WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC

Definition of work-related injury

WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC INJURY FATALITIES, AUSTRALIA 200809 ... iii

iv ... SAFE WORK AUSTRALIA

WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC INJURY FATALITIES, AUSTRALIA 200809 ... v

Sex and age

WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC INJURY FATALITIES, AUSTRALIA 200809 ... vii

viii ... SAFE WORK AUSTRALIA

WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC INJURY FATALITIES, AUSTRALIA 200809 ... 1

WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC INJURY FATALITIES, AUSTRALIA 200809 ... 3

Machinery operators & drivers

Percentage of working fatalities

* Includes fatalities where occupation was not stated.

4 ... SAFE WORK AUSTRALIA

WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC INJURY FATALITIES, AUSTRALIA 200809 ... 5

Agriculture, forestry & fishing

6 ... SAFE WORK AUSTRALIA

WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC INJURY FATALITIES, AUSTRALIA 200809 ... 7

200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809

Although the number of Working fatalities in the Construction industry

8 ... SAFE WORK AUSTRALIA

2.3 Traffic incidents

WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC INJURY FATALITIES, AUSTRALIA 200809 ... 9

2.4 State/territory of death

10 ... SAFE WORK AUSTRALIA

WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC INJURY FATALITIES, AUSTRALIA 200809 ... 11

Deaths per 100 000 workers 10

2.5 Age and sex

12 ... SAFE WORK AUSTRALIA

WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC INJURY FATALITIES, AUSTRALIA 200809 ... 13

2.6 Mechanism of incident

Falls from a height

Percentage of Working fatalities

14 ... SAFE WORK AUSTRALIA

Table 5 Working fatalities: number by mechanism of incident, Australia, 200304 to 200809

WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC INJURY FATALITIES, AUSTRALIA 200809 ... 15

WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC INJURY FATALITIES, AUSTRALIA 200809 ... 17

At a lower level of the occupation classification, the largest number of Commuting

3.2 Industry of employer

18 ... SAFE WORK AUSTRALIA

Industry of employer 200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809

At a lower level of the industry classification, the largest number of Commuting

3.3 Age and sex

WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC INJURY FATALITIES, AUSTRALIA 200809 ... 19

20 ... SAFE WORK AUSTRALIA

4.2 Location of incident

WORK-RELATED TRAUMATIC INJURY FATALITIES, AUSTRALIA 200809 ... 21

4.3 Mechanism of incident

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Deaths resulting from criminal activity

Deaths due to natural causes

Deaths due to complications of surgical and medical care

Deaths of persons undertaking criminal activity

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The National Data Set for Compensation-based Statistics (NDS)

Notified Fatalities Collection (NFC)

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National Coroners Information System (NCIS)

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Percentage of all fatalities

NCIS NDS NFC