Injury Statistics – Work-related Claims: 2010

Provisional data show that in 2010:

• 209,700 claims in total were made for work-related injuries; these claims were made by 187,300 people.
• 11 percent of all claims were for entitlements (claims in which compensation and support beyond medical fees were required).
• Agriculture and fishery workers were the occupation group with the highest incidence rate, at 241 work-related injury claims per 1,000 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs).
• The regions with the highest incidence of work-related injuries were Gisborne/Hawke’s Bay, Northland, and Bay of Plenty.
• The Tasman/Nelson/Marlborough/West Coast region had the most claims lodged for fatal work-related injuries, due to the Pike River mining explosion.
• Sprains and strains were the most common type of work-related injury claim, accounting for 90,600 claims (43 percent).

Trends from final data for 2002–09 show that:

• The total number of claims has continued to fall each year since 2006 (to 215,700 in 2009).
• The number of claims made by older workers is rising steadily each year, from 6,800 claims in 2002 to 11,800 in 2009.