20 Aug 1 Death Is Too Many.
1 Death Is Too Many
While visiting Safework Australia’s web site we note the completed report for workplace fatalities.
Consider this:
In 2017 Australia had 190 deaths at work
If we consider the following three factors it is fairly easy to conclude the most at risk people.
Work-related injury fatalities by age group, 2017
| Age group (years) | Number of fatalities | Fatality rate (fatalities per 100,000 workers) |
| less than 25 | 16 | 0.9 |
| 25-34 | 32 | 1.1 |
| 35-44 | 33 | 1.2 |
| 45-54 | 35 | 1.4 |
| 55-64 | 49 | 2.7 |
| 65 and over | 25 | 5.1 |
| Total | 190 | 1.5 |
Work-related injury fatalities by mechanism of fatal injury, 2017
| Mechanism of incident | Number of fatalities | % of injury fatalities |
| Vehicle collision | 60 | 32% |
| Being hit by moving objects | 35 | 18% |
| Falls from a height | 28 | 15% |
| Being hit by falling objects | 15 | 8% |
| Roll over of non-road vehicle | 10 | 5% |
| Drowning | 8 | 4% |
| Other mechanisms | 34 | 18% |
| Total | 190 | 100% |
Work-related injury fatalities by occupation, 2017
| Occupation | Number of fatalities | Fatality rate (fatalities per 100,000 workers) |
| Machinery operators and drivers | 55 | 7.1 |
| Labourers | 56 | 4.6 |
| Managers | 26 | 1.7 |
| Community and personal service workers | 14 | 1.1 |
| Technicians and trades workers | 17 | 1.0 |
| Professionals | 18 | 0.6 |
| Clerical and administrative workers | 3 | 0.2 |
| Sales workers | 1 | 0.1 |
| Total | 190 | 1.5 |
When looking deeper into the statistics; 136 (72%) of the work-related fatalities are from:
- Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing— 52 deaths
- Transport, Postal and Warehousing—54 deaths
- Construction—30 deaths
Of the 190 deaths 14 were Female and 176 were Male.
We say stay safe and ensure everything you and your work colleagues do are risk assessed with the hazards identified and control measure in place. As of 2/7/2020 we have had 91 deaths at work in our country and that is 91 too many.