Newsletter #378 (View other news stories)
NSW leads the nation in reducing workplace injuries
SYDNEY, New South Wales, Australia
Thursday, 18 Sep 2008
The Australian Safety and Compensation Council’s 10th Comparative Performance Monitoring Report for 2006-07 reveals NSW has achieved significant reductions in the incidence of injuries, the number of long-term injury claims and scheme expenditure.
NSW has achieved the greatest reduction in the rate of injury and manual handling claims among the state and territory jurisdictions, with the report estimating a 28.9% improvement since June 2002.
The incidence and frequency rates of claims for serious injuries and diseases across the State are now below the Australian average. In NSW the incidence was 13.9 per 1,000 employees with a frequency of 8.5 per million hours worked, compared to the national average of 14.2 and 8.8 respectively.
NSW has the lowest incidence and frequency rates for long-term claims of all states and territories, with around a 40% reduction in claims longer than 12 weeks over the past four years. The incidence and frequency rates in 2006-07 were 2.7 (per 1,000 workers) and 1.7 (per million hours worked) respectively, compared to the Australian average of 3.2 and 2.0.
Scheme expenditure in NSW has been reduced by more than AUD750 million during the same period.
According to WorkCover NSW CEO Jon Blackwell, the incidence of workplace fatalities in New South Wales has fallen by more than 50% in the past two decades, and has dropped even further since last year.
"The report clearly shows New South Wales is on target to achieve a 20% reduction in fatalities and 40% reduction in injuries by 2012 - the national target adopted following the 2002 NSW Safety Summit," he explains.
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