Introduction
The data in the National Online Statistics Interactive (NOSI) system have been extracted
from the National Data Set for Compensation-based Statistics (NDS). To be included
in the NDS, new claims must be accepted by the jurisdiction and involve either a
death, permanent incapacity, or a temporary incapacity for which payments have been
made (including common law, but excluding claims for which only payments for medical
and like services have been made). The scope is further limited in publications
to non-journey claims involving more than one working week lost from work.
Confidentiality
All data have been adjusted to ensure adherence to Safe Work Australia confidentiality practices
which ensure that confidential information about employers and employees is protected.
This involves the suppression of cell values less than 5 (replaced with ‘np’ = not
publishable) and the rounding of all individual cell values to the nearest 5. For
this reason differences may occur between the totals and the sum of the row and
column values. Fatalities have not been treated as confidential since, by agreement
with the jurisdictions, this information is a matter of public record.
Cost Data
Caution needs to be exercised when employing workers’ compensation payments data
as a measure of the cost of workplace injury and disease. It should be noted that
payments information provided in any one year by the jurisdictions will not necessarily
cover all the payments made lately, and do not include estimates of future costs.
It is, therefore, incorrect to assume that the cost information presented in this
report represents the final total median cost per case. The direct cost figures
presented include compensation or sustenance payments to a worker or the worker’s
family; payments for goods and services (such as medical treatment, funeral expenses,
rehabilitation services); and non-compensation payments (such as legal costs, transport
and interpreter services). The data do not include estimates of future liability
or any indirect costs, such as loss of productivity. Medians have been calculated
excluding cases where zero payments have been reported. The rationale for different
treatment for calculations for costs, compared with duration, is that while occurrences
with zero time lost are valid observations, some fatalities and permanent disabilities
never result in time lost, an occurrence which has been compensated should almost
always have a payment figure associated with it. Therefore, it is considered that
the calculation excluding zero payment observations produces a more accurate reflection
of median cost.
Definitions
Occupational Injuries
All employment injuries which are the result of a single traumatic event occurring
while a person is on duty or during a recess period and where there was a short
or non-existent latency period. This includes injuries which are the result of a
single exposure to an agent(s) causing an acute toxic effect.
Occupational Diseases
All employment injuries which result from repeated or long term exposure to an agent(s)
or event(s), and employment injuries which are the result of a single traumatic
event where there was a long latency period, for example, the development of hepatitis
following a single exposure to the infection. Workers’ compensation data are not
an ideal measure of the extent of work-related disease since, for a variety of reasons,
many diseases do not result in a compensation claim. Due to long latency periods
it may not be possible to establish conclusively a relationship between the disease
and workplace exposure.
Industry Classification
The industry in which an occupational injury or disease occurred has been classified in
accordance with the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification
(ANZSIC), 1993 edition (ABS Cat. No. 1292.0).
Occupation Classification
The occupation of the worker has been classified in accordance with the Australian
Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO), Second Edition, July 1997 (ABS Cat.
No.1222.0).
Denominator Data
Denominator data are supplied each year by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. These
estimate the number of employees and hours exposed for each Australian workers’
compensation jurisdiction except Seacare. These estimates are provided by jurisdiction,
gender and age for both industry and occupation. Denominator data uses the Labour
Force Survey data as a base, and a number of adjustments are applied to account
for differences in scope between the denominators and the workers’ compensation
coverage for some jurisdictions. The largest adjustment is made for Commonwealth
employees who are estimated using the Survey of Employment and Earnings.
Incidence and Frequency Rates
Incidence Rate
The incidence rate of occupational injuries and diseases is the number of cases
expressed as a rate per thousand employees. Such rates were calculated using the
following formula:
|
number of occupational injury and disease cases x 1000
|
|
number of employees |
Incidence rates for fatalities are expressed as a rate per 100 000 employees.
Frequency Rate
The frequency rate of occupational injuries and diseases is the number of cases
expressed as a rate per million hours worked by employees. Such rates were calculated
using the following formula:
|
number of occupational injury and disease cases x 1 000 000
|
|
number of hours worked |
Frequency rates for fatalities are expressed as a rate per 100 million hours.
Median
The median is a measure of central tendency of a sample and is the value for which
one half (50%) of the observations, when ranked, will lie above that value and one
half will lie below that value. When the number of values in the sample is even,
the median is computed as the average of the two middle values.
National Data Set for Compensation-based Statistics (NDS)
The NDS is a standardised set of data items, concepts and definitions for inclusion
in workers’ compensation systems operating in Australia. The overall objective of
the NDS is to assist in the prevention of occupational injury and disease by the
production of uniform national and nationally comparable indicators of occupational
health and safety performance and experience.
Reliability of Data
The data are subject to both non-sampling and sampling errors
Non-Sampling Errors
Non-sampling errors may occur in any statistical collection during data reporting,
recording and processing. Non-sampling errors can be a result of one or more of
the following:
- deficiencies in the data collecting forms
- incorrect recording of answers by the respondent or the processing agency
- inaccurate coding
- non-response or omitted cases
- errors in collection procedures, and
- errors in data entry, editing and processing.
Non-sampling errors may affect both the numerator and denominator data. It is difficult
to quantify the non-sampling errors. Attempts to edit data accurately, consistently
and comparably are adopted by agencies to minimise the non-sampling errors.
Sampling Errors
Sampling errors are a measure of the variability that occurs by chance because a sample,
rather than the entire population, is surveyed. The likelihood of difference is
measured by the standard error, which indicates the extent to which an estimate
might have varied by chance because a sample was selected. Sampling variability
is also measured by the relative standard error (RSE), which is obtained by expressing
the standard error as a percentage of the estimate to which it refers. In the NDS,
the denominator data used in the estimation of incidence and frequency rates are
the only data which are subject to sampling error. Incidence and frequency rates
based on denominator data with high relative standard errors is indicated in tables
by annotation with one asterisk to indicate an RSE greater than 25%. If the RSE
is greater than 50% the figure is suppressed and replaced with two asterisks.
Standard symbols and abbreviations
The following standard symbols are used in this publication:
|
* |
data equal to zero or relative standard error greater than 25% |
|
** |
data suppressed because relative standard error is greater than 50%
|
|
ABS |
Australian Bureau of Statistics |
|
ANZSIC |
Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification |
|
ASCO |
Australian Standard Classification of Occupations |
|
CPM |
Comparative Performance Monitoring |
|
NDS |
National Data Set for Compensation-based Statistics |
|
np |
not available for separate publication due to confidentiality restrictions |
|
p |
Preliminary data
|
Time Lost from Work
Information relating to time lost from work should be examined with caution for
the following reasons:
- Time lost from work does not include estimates of future absences. Therefore the
total time lost for the more serious claims may not be known for some time after
the end of financial year.
- Data lodged in a given financial year may include claims for injuries or illnesses
incurred in an earlier financial year.
- Median working weeks lost have been calculated including claims where zero days
have been lost, as is the case for some permanent disabilities and fatalities.
Totals
The numbers in tables are rounded to the nearest 5 claims and due to this, the sum
of columns in tables may not sum to the total. However, the number of fatalities
are presented unrounded.
Type of Occurrence Classification System (TOOCS2.1,
May 2002)
The TOOCS system was developed for use in coding details of workers’ compensation
claims reported to workers’ compensation agencies and consists of:
Nature of Injury or Disease
The nature of injury or disease refers to the most serious injury or disease sustained
or suffered by the worker.
Bodily Location of Injury or Disease
The bodily location of injury or disease refers to the part of the body affected
by the most serious injury or disease.
Mechanism of Injury or Disease
The mechanism of injury or disease is the action, exposure or event which is the
direct cause of the most serious injury or disease, that is, how exactly the injury
or disease was sustained.
Breakdown Agency
The breakdown agency refers to the object, substance or circumstance that was principally
involved in, or most closely associated with, the point at which things started
to go wrong, and which ultimately led to the most serious injury or disease.
Agency of Injury or Disease
The agency of injury or disease refers to the object, substance or circumstance
directly involved in inflicting the injury or disease. The coding structure is the
same as is used for breakdown agency.
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