Work-related Injury CLAIMS - November 2007

6 November 2007

Introduction

This report informs you about work-related injury claims that occurred in the 2006 calendar year as measured at 31 March 2007. The injury statistics were released by Statistics New Zealand on 30 October 2007 and were accompanied by final figures for the 2005 year. The data relates solely to claims for work-related injury received by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC). All figures in the report are provisional as claims for injuries that occurred in 2006 can still be updated and filed. Final figures (as at March 2008) will be released in October 2008.

Key points

Fatalities have fallen slightly

By the end of March 2007, there were 81 claims for work-related fatal injuries¹ that occurred in 2006. This is down 5 from the corresponding provisional (and therefore comparable) figure for 2005. This figure is provisional and is expected to increase as workers who have been seriously injured may fail to recover from their injuries. Nonetheless, the number of fatalities between 2002 and 2005 (final figures) has remained relatively steady with between 92 and 95 recorded each year.

The construction industry and the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry had the most fatal injury claims in 2006 with 23 and 19 respectively. Together these two industries accounted for more than half of all claims for fatal injuries. The occupational groups which recorded the most claims for fatal injuries were agriculture and fisheries workers with 21 claims and plant and machine operators and assemblers with 17 claims.

Fatal injury claims increase with age, with those aged over 65 accounting for 24 claims, or 30% of all claims in 2006, despite comprising only 3% of the labour force. This results in an incidence rate² about 12 times higher than the average of 4 fatal injury claims per 100,000 full time equivalent employees (FTEs). However, as this age group has enjoyed very strong employment growth over the last year, their incidence rate has fallen from 61 claims per 100,000 FTEs in 2005 to 53 in 2006.

The number of claims for work-related injuries has fallen

The provisional number of claims for work-related injury was 235,200 in 2006, which is down 7,400, from the corresponding provisional figure in 2005. As employment grew by 1.4% in the year to December 2006, this has resulted in a decrease in the incidence rate for claims to ACC. In 2006 there were 126 claims per 1,000 FTEs, down from the provisional figure of 132 in 2005. The incidence rate for ACC claims has been trending downwards over the last four years.

Males continue to dominate work-related injury claims

In 2006, the incidence rate for males was 159 claims per 1,000 male FTEs compared with 80 claims per 1,000 female FTEs (Figure 1). This indicates that males are twice as likely to claim for a work-related injury in 2006 than females.

Fig 1: Claims per 1,000 FTEs employed, 2006

Data table for Fig 1

Males account for 73% of all work-related injury claims. This percentage has remained relatively steady between 2002 and 2006. Of the 81 claims for fatal injuries, nearly all were in relation to male workers. This reflects the male predominance in higher risk industries such as agriculture, mining and construction.

Among males, workers aged 65 years and over had the highest incidence rate with 249 claims per 1,000 FTEs. However, they comprise only 3% of all work-related claims for males due to relatively low total numbers of workers. Those aged 15-24 had the second highest incidence rate with 200 claims per 1,000 FTEs. Among females, age differences in the incidence rates were less pronounced, although again those aged over 65 years had the highest incidence rate.

Despite workers aged 65 and over being more likely to claim for a work-related injury, their provisional incidence rate has fallen between 2005 and 2006 from 213 claims per 1,000 FTEs to 199.

Claims by ethnicity

Europeans accounted for 69% of all claims for work-related injuries, followed by Maori (12%) and Pacific Peoples (5%). Maori workers had the highest incidence rate of work-related injury with 165 claims per 1,000 FTEs compared with 149 claims per 1,000 FTEs for Pacific Peoples and 114 claims per 1,000 FTEs for Europeans. The incidence rates for Maori, Pacific Peoples and Europeans have all decreased over the last year.

The difference in incidence rates by ethnicity reflects the high proportion of Maori and Pacific Peoples who are employed in occupational groups with a higher incidence of work-related injury³ .

Claims by region

Bay of Plenty and Gisborne/Hawke’s Bay had the highest incidence rates with 174 and 171 claims per 1,000 FTEs, respectively. The lowest rate was measured in the Wellington region with only 69 claims per 1,000 FTEs. This compares with an average of 126 per 1,000 FTEs for New Zealand as a whole. As with ethnicity, these figures most likely vary due to the different composition of industries across regions.

Claims by industry

The manufacturing industry had the highest total number of claims in 2006 with 43,600, representing 19% of all claims made for work-related injuries. However, the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry had the highest incidence rate with 177 claims per 1,000 FTEs. It was followed closely by mining and manufacturing (both 165 claims per 1,000 FTEs) and construction (152 claims per 1,000 FTEs).

Table 1: Claims for Work-related Injuries by Industry, 2006.

Industry	Total claims (000s)	Incidence rate (claims per 1000 FTEs)
Agriculture, forestry, and fishing	22.8	177
Mining	1.0	165
Manufacturing	43.6	165
Construction	26.4	152
Cultural and recreation services	5.8	136
Electricity, gas and water supply	1.0	122
Transport and storage	8.8	116
Wholesale trade	8.6	90
Personal and other services	6.4	86
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants	5.8	77
Retail trade	16.8	75
Communication services	2.4	72
Property and business services	14.9	68
Health and community services	9.6	60
Education	7.0	50
Government administration and defence	3.9	47
Finance and insurance	1.2	19
Total	235.2	126

Source: Claims for Work-Related Injuries, Statistics New Zealand

The lowest incidence rate was for the finance and insurance industry which had only 19 claims per 1,000 FTEs. The variation in incidence rates by industry underlies many of the differences observed by ethnicity, age, sex and region. The distribution of claims by industry has remained relatively constant over the past four years.

Time away from the labour force

89% of all persons who claimed for a work-related injury in 2006 spent no time away from the labour force. A further 4% returned within a month and only 1% did not return within six months.

Costs of work-related injuries

The total cost to ACC of treatment, compensation and rehabilitation for work-related injuries that occurred in 2006 was $225 million by the end of March 2007. The average cost of claims for work-related injuries in 2006 was $960 dollars. However, this figure is driven up by large claims and the data shows 81% of claims cost ACC $500 or less. Rehabilitation payments accounted for 55% of the total costs.

Endnotes

1 These are claims made to ACC for work-related death. They are recorded by the year of the injury rather than the date of death. It should be noted that not all work-related fatalities result in a claim to ACC and so these figures do not fully portray the number of deaths from work-related injuries.

2 The incidence rate equals the number of injury claims per 1,000 full-time equivalents (FTEs) or the number of fatality claims per 100,000 FTEs.

3 For the three occupational groups with the highest incidence rates of work-related injury (Elementary Occupations, Plant and Machine Operators and Assemblers, and Agriculture and Fishery Workers) Household Labour Force Survey data shows that in the year to December 2006, 38% of Pacific Peoples and 35% of Maori were employed in these occupational groups compared to only 20% of Europeans.