Background
The figures presented in this Hot Off the Press are for claims accepted by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) for work-related injuries. The statistics are based on one claim for each person for each injury event. The information covers all claims for work-related injuries, including claims involving entitlement payments and claims for fatal injuries. Claims are included in the Excel tables under the calendar year in which the injury occurred (see the ‘Tables’ section).
The information is presented in a different order than in previous years, using a new conceptual framework. Although data is not available to provide information for all of the framework, it has the following elements:
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individual – the characteristics of the injured person
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activity – the actions carried out by the person just before the injury occurred
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event or accident – the injury event or accident
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environs and locale – the scene and location of the activity that led to the injury
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injury – the damage to the person that resulted from the event or accident
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outcome – the effect of the injury on individuals and society.
The figures released for the first time are provisional statistics for 2008 and final statistics for 2007 (both as reported by 31 March 2009). Trends in work-related injuries for the six years from 2002–07 are also reported.
The figures for injuries that occurred in 2008 are provisional because claims for these injuries can still be lodged and updated. The final figures are expected to be higher than the provisional figures as more claims are received over the year. Because the provisional figures for 2008 are not comparable with the figures from earlier years, they have been excluded from the discussion of the trends. Final work-related injury figures for 2008 (as reported by 31 March 2010) will be released in October 2010. (See the 'Technical notes' for details of the definition of final figures which has been developed for the purposes of this release only.)
Summary of work-related injury claims
The provisional number of claims for work-related injuries that occurred in the 2008 calendar year was 224,900 (as reported by 31 March 2009). The 2008 figures may have been influenced by the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation Amendment Act 2008 which came into force on 1 August 2008. Two of the aims of the Act were to extend cover where necessary, and make cover more accessible. Details of the amendment are available on the ACC website (www.acc.co.nz).
The final number of claims increased slightly each year from 240,100 in 2002 to 246,800 in 2005. The number of claims has decreased both years since then to 235,000 in 2007.
In 2008, the provisional incidence rate was 117 work-related injury claims per 1,000 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs).
The final incidence rate has decreased each year from 143 in 2002 to 123 in 2007.
Provisionally, in 2008, around 13 percent of claims (30,100) resulted in entitlement payments. (The remainder resulted in the payment of medical fees only.)
The number of entitlement claims increased from 30,700 in 2002 to 34,900 in 2006, before decreasing slightly in 2007 to 33,700, representing 13 to 15 percent of all claims.
The 2008 provisional incidence rate for entitlement payments is 16 claims per 1,000 FTEs. (The provisional figure for 2007 was also 16.)
Between 2002 and 2007, the incidence rate for entitlement payments fluctuated between 18 and 19 claims per 1,000 FTEs, with the final 2007 incidence rate being 18 claims per 1,000 FTEs.
Between 2002 and 2007, the number of claims for fatal work-related injuries fluctuated between 89 and 103. The 2008 provisional figure was 63, similar to the 2007 provisional figure. These figures are best interpreted with caution as not all work-related fatalities result in a claim to ACC.
Characteristics of the injured person
Sex
Provisional claims by sex: 2008
In 2008, 161,400 work-related injury claims (72 percent) were for males. Males had an incidence rate of 148 claims per 1,000 FTEs, which was higher than the rate for females (76 claims per 1,000 FTEs).
Provisionally, the number of claims for fatal injuries that occurred in 2008 was 63, and the majority of these claims were for males.
Trends by sex: 2002–07
Males consistently accounted for just under three-quarters (72–74 percent) of all work-related claims between 2002 and 2007, although the proportion has been decreasing slightly over this time.
Males also had a higher incidence rate than females, but the rate for males decreased from 183 in 2002 to 156 in 2007. The rate for females has also decreased over this period from 88 in 2002 to 79 in 2007.
Age
All provisional claims by age: 2008
In 2008, workers aged 45–54 years made more claims for work-related injuries than any other age group, with 50,800 claims (23 percent of all claims). This age group was closely followed by workers aged 35–44 years, who made 50,300 claims (22 percent of all claims).
Note: The 2008 figures are provisional.
Although in 2008 workers aged 65 years and over (65+) made only 5 percent of all claims (10,500 claims), this age group had the highest incidence rate of 185 claims per 1,000 FTEs. The high incidence rate for older workers is in part due to the small number of these workers (57,000 FTEs) compared with the number in the younger age ranges. Workers aged 15–24 years had the second-highest rate, with 143 claims per 1,000 FTEs.
Note: The 2008 figures are provisional.
All provisional entitlement claims by age: 2008
As was the case for all work-related claims, in 2008, workers aged 45–54 years lodged more entitlement claims than any other age group, with 6,900 claims (23 percent of all entitlement claims). Workers aged 65+ made the fewest entitlement claims, with 2,200 claims lodged (7 percent).
Note: The 2008 figures are provisional.
The 65+ age group had an incidence rate of 39 entitlement claims per 1,000 FTEs in 2008. This rate was considerably higher than the incidence rate for any other age group. The rate for the other age groups varied between 13 and 17 entitlement claims per 1,000 FTEs.
Note: The 2008 figures are provisional.
All provisional fatal claims by age: 2008
The number of fatal injury claims tended to increase with age in 2008. Twenty-four fatal claims were lodged for people aged 65+, which was 38 percent of all fatal claims. By comparison, people aged 55–64 years accounted for 10 claims (16 percent).
Trends by age: 2002–07
Although the annual number of claims lodged by workers aged 35–44 years decreased 12 percent between 2002 and 2007 (from 61,300 to 53,800 claims), this age group consistently had the most claims. The decrease in the number of claims for this age group has resulted in the claims in 2007 (53,800) being only slightly greater than the number of claims for the next biggest group, those aged 45–54 years, who lodged 51,500 claims in 2007. Claims by workers aged 45–54 years fluctuated between 50,400 to 52,300 claims between 2002 and 2007. For those aged 25–34 years, the number fell from 52,800 to 45,400 claims over the same period.
Workers aged 15–24 years, 55–64 years, and 65+ made the fewest claims between 2002 and 2007. The annual number of claims lodged by those aged 65+ increased, rising steadily from 6,800 claims in 2002 to reach 9,600 in 2007, although claims for this age group comprised only 3 or 4 percent of all claims over the period.
Between 2002 and 2007, workers aged 65+ had the highest incidence rate of work-related claims, with 228 claims per 1,000 FTEs in 2002 and 183 in 2007. Workers aged 15–24 years had the next highest rate, with 166 claims per 1,000 FTEs in 2002 and 152 in 2007. Incidence rates decreased for all age groups between 2002 and 2007
Ethnicity
Provisional claims by ethnicity: 2008
Provisionally in 2008, Europeans lodged 146,900 claims for work-related injuries. This figure represents 65 percent of all work-related claims. Māori lodged 12 percent of claims (25,900 claims), Pacific peoples lodged 6 percent (12,700), and those of Asian ethnicity lodged 5 percent (10,900).
Pacific peoples had an incidence rate of 143 claims per 1,000 FTEs, compared with 112 for Māori, and 105 for Europeans.
Note: The 2008 figures are provisional.
Trends by ethnicity: 2002–07
Because of a population rebase in the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS), there has been a break in the series of incidence rates by ethnicity between 2006 and 2007 (see the ‘Technical notes’ for details). Therefore, trends in these rates will not be published or discussed in this Hot Off the Press.
Statistics New Zealand has recently reviewed the collection and classification of ethnicity for these injury statistics and plans to change to an improved method for the statistics released in October 2010. The change will start new a series for all work-related injury statistics using ethnicity.
Occupation
All provisional claims by occupation: 2008
In 2008, trades workers lodged the most claims for work-related injuries, with 42,600 claims (19 percent of all claims). The second- and third-highest number of claims were lodged by plant and machine operators and assemblers (36,300 claims) and agriculture, forestry, and fishery workers (30,400 claims), respectively.
Agriculture, forestry, and fishery workers had the highest incidence rate, at 241 work-related injury claims per 1,000 FTEs. Workers in the elementary occupations group (for example, labourers and cleaners) had the next highest rate at 239 claims per 1,000 FTEs. The lowest rates were for the professionals and clerks occupation groups with 41 and 43 claims per 1,000 FTEs, respectively.
Note: The 2008 figures are provisional. The incidence rate for all work-related claims has been included in the graph for comparison purposes.
All provisional entitlement claims by occupation: 2008
In 2008, plant and machine operators and assemblers lodged the most entitlement claims (7,000 or 23 percent of all entitlement claims). The second- and third-highest number of claims were made by trades workers (5,600 or 19 percent), and agriculture, forestry, and fishery workers (4,100 or 14 percent). The high percentage of entitlement claims for these three occupation groups is consistent with the figures for all work-related claims.
All provisional fatal claims by occupation: 2008
Ten of the fatal claims for 2008 were lodged for agriculture, forestry, and fishery workers. The trades workers, and plant and machine operators and assemblers occupation groups accounted for nine fatal claims each. However, for 21 (33 percent) of the fatal claims, the occupation was not known. The remaining 14 fatal injury claims were distributed across a range of occupations.
Trends by occupation: 2002–07
Between 2002 and 2007, four occupation groups consistently made the highest number of claims: plant and machine operators and assemblers; trades workers; agriculture, forestry, and fishery workers; and workers in elementary occupations. However, the ordering of these groups varied between individual years. The percentage of claims by plant and machine operators and assemblers, and agriculture, forestry, and fishery workers each remained steady at 17–18 percent and 14–15 percent, respectively. However, the percentage of claims by the elementary occupations decreased slightly from 14 percent in 2002 to 11 percent in 2007. The proportion of claims by trades workers increased over the same period from 13 percent to 19 percent, from fourth-highest in 2002 to highest in 2007.
The elementary occupations group had the highest incidence rate of work-related claims between 2002 and 2007, although the actual rate fluctuated from a high of 337 claims per 1,000 FTEs in 2002 to a low of 273 in both 2004 and 2007. Agriculture, forestry, and fishery workers; plant and machine operators and assemblers; and trades workers had the next-highest rates.
Note: The incidence rates for all work-related claims have been included in the graph for comparison purposes.
Employment status
In 2008, employees lodged the majority of work-related claims (188,100 or 84 percent). However, the self-employed had a considerably higher incidence rate (174 claims per 1,000 FTEs) than employees (110 claims per 1,000 FTEs).
The 2008 provisional figures were consistent with the final figures for each year from 2002–07. The proportion of claims lodged by employees increased slightly over this period from 81 percent in 2002 to 84 percent in 2007. In each year, the self-employed had a considerably higher incidence rate than employees.
Claims per person
The 224,900 claims for work-related injuries that occurred in 2008 were made by 200,400 people. Most people (179,900 or 90 percent) lodged only one claim. Around 17,700 people (9 percent) lodged two claims (that is, made claims for two separate injury events). About 1 percent of those who sustained a work-related injury lodged more than two claims.
The statistics in this release are based on one claim for each person for the same injury event. Sometimes more than one claim is recorded in the data for the same person and injury event. Statistics NZ makes every effort possible to identify these claims, and remove the multiple claims per person from the data used to generate the statistics. However, a small proportion of people making more than one claim for the same injury event may still be reported in the figures as making two or more claims.
Environs and locale of the injury
Location/scene of injury
Around 90,900 claims (40 percent of all claims) for work-related injuries in 2008 were made for injuries that occurred in a commercial or service location, and around 60,500 (27 percent) were made for injuries that occurred in an industrial place.
Geographic region
Provisional claims by geographic region: 2008
The Auckland region had the most work-related injury claims in 2008, with 62,200 or 28 percent, considerably higher than the number of claims for any other region. However, the regions with the highest incidence rates were Gisborne/Hawke’s Bay, Otago/Southland, and Bay of Plenty, which had 160, 157 and 156 claims per 1,000 FTEs, respectively. Wellington had the lowest rate, with 65 claims per 1,000 FTEs.
Note: The 2008 figures are provisional. The incidence rate for all work-related claims has been included in the graph for comparison purposes.
The highest number of entitlement claims also occurred in the Auckland region, which accounted for 23 percent of such claims. However, this region had the second-lowest incidence rate of 12 entitlement claims per 1,000 FTEs. The Wellington region had the lowest rate, with nine entitlement claims per 1,000 FTEs. The highest rates occurred in Otago/Southland and Bay of Plenty, which had 26 and 22 entitlement claims per 1,000 FTEs, respectively.
The highest number of claims (18) lodged for work-related fatal injuries occurred in the Canterbury region.
Trends by geographic region: 2002–07
The Auckland region consistently had the highest number of injuries resulting in work-related claims, accounting for just over one-quarter of injuries each year from 2002 to 2006. Canterbury had the next-highest number, accounting for 15 percent of the claims each year.
There were few clear trends in the incidence rates of work-related claims for individual regions between 2002 and 2007. Specifically, no region consistently had the highest incidence rate each year, but the Wellington region had the lowest incidence rate each year. The Auckland and Canterbury regions had the second- and third-lowest incidence rates, respectively, each year.
Industry
All provisional claims by industry: 2008
Nearly one-quarter (23 percent) of work-related injury claims in 2008 did not specify the industry of the workplace where the injury occurred. For this reason, the following figures should be interpreted with caution. In particular, the incidence rates reported may be only indicative of the actual incidence rates.
Workers in the manufacturing industry lodged the highest number of claims, with 38,900 work-related claims (17 percent of all claims). Workers in the construction industry, and the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry lodged the second- and third-highest numbers, with 24,900 (11 percent) and 19,600 claims (9 percent), respectively.
The incidence rate of work-related claims was highest in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry, with 152 claims per 1,000 FTEs. This industry was followed by manufacturing (with 148 claims per 1,000 FTEs), construction (with 146 claims per 1,000 FTEs), and mining (with 145 claims per 1,000 FTEs). The finance and insurance industry had the lowest rate, at 19 claims per 1,000 FTEs.
Females made more work-related claims than males in the following industries: accommodation, cafes, and restaurants; finance and insurance; education; and health and community services.
Note: The 2008 figures are provisional. The incidence rate for all work-related claims has been included in the graph for comparison purposes.
All provisional entitlement claims by industry: 2008
The proportion of entitlement claims where the industry was unknown (10 percent) was less than the proportion for all claims (23 percent), but was still high enough that the following results should be interpreted with caution.
The distribution of entitlement claims across industries was reasonably similar to the distribution for all claims. The highest number of injuries resulting in entitlement claims occurred in the manufacturing industry, which had 7,000 such claims (23 percent of all entitlement claims). The construction industry had the second-highest number (4,500 or 15 percent), followed by the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industry (3,500 or 12 percent).
All provisional fatal claims by industry: 2008
The construction, and the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industries had the highest number of fatal injury claims, with 13 claims each (21 percent of all fatal injury claims each). These results should be interpreted with caution because the industry was not known for 11 of the fatal claims (17 percent) and only a small proportion of work-related fatalities result in a claim to ACC.
Trends by industry: 2002–07
Because of the high proportion of claims where the industry was unknown, and since the proportion where the industry is unknown has been increasing each year from 2002, trends in industry are not discussed in this commentary.
Injury
Type of injury
In 2008, sprains and strains accounted for 98,800 work-related claims (44 percent of all claims), considerably higher than the number lodged for open wounds (32,200 claims or 14 percent) and contusions (20,200 claims or 9 percent), which were the second and third most common types of injury resulting in a work-related claim.
The majority of injuries (87 percent) were categorised under injury, poisoning, and consequences of external causes, compared to 12 percent categorised as illness or disease. These statistics are based on the year that an injury occurred, and many occupational diseases may not become apparent until many years after the exposure to hazardous substances.
Of all entitlement claims, 11,200 (or 37 percent) were made for sprains and strains. Open wounds, the second most common type of injury resulting in entitlement claims, accounted for 3,000 such claims (10 percent).
In each year from 2002 to 2007, the distribution of the type of injury is similar.
Location of injury by body site
When grouped by body site, in 2008, injuries to the lower torso (categorised as the abdomen, lower back, and pelvis) and injuries to the wrist and hand were the most common sites for work-related claims, accounting for 41,300 and 38,700 claims, respectively (18 and 17 percent of all claims, respectively). Injuries to the head and neck were the third most common site, accounting for 32,800 claims (15 percent).
Outcome of injury
Costs
The Accident Compensation Corporation Annual Report 2008 (page 89) shows that claims in the workers account (that is, all work-related claims) cost $470 million in the 2007/08 financial year ($401 million plus $69 million handling costs).
Previously, Statistics NZ has released figures on costs for work-related injury claims using the same basis as the other provisional and final figures used in this release. This year, Statistics NZ has decided not to release these figures as the ACC figures provide a better measure of the ongoing costs of work-related injuries. The problems with measuring costs on the same basis as other figures in this release include: some injuries may incur high costs over many years; however, the ongoing costs that occur after the cut-off date for the statistics would not be included in the figures.
Type of payments
Provisionally in 2008, most claims (87 percent) were for medical fees only, that is, they were not entitlement claims. Weekly compensation and rehabilitation payments comprise 7 percent and 6 percent of claims, respectively.
Most claims (80 percent) involved only one or two payment types, with 58 percent and 22 percent of all claims, respectively.
Next release...
Injury Statistics – Work-related Claims: 2009 will be released in October 2010.