Published: 5 November 2008

This report informs you about work-related injury claims that occurred in the 2007 calendar year as measured at 31 March 2008. The injury statistics were released by Statistics New Zealand on 29 October 2008 and were accompanied by final figures for the 2006 year. The data relates solely to claims for work-related injury received by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC). All figures in the report are provisional as claims for injuries that occurred in 2007 can still be updated and filed. Final figures will be released in October 2009.

Provisional fatality claims

By the end of March 2008, there were 67 claims for work-related fatal injuries¹ that occurred in 2007. However, this figure is provisional and is expected to increase as workers who have been seriously injured may fail to recover from their injuries. The 2007 figure of 67 is a fall of 14 from the corresponding provisional figure for 2006.

Fatal injury claims in 2007 were concentrated in construction (16), manufacturing (9) and agriculture, forestry & fishing (8). Together these three industries accounted for half of all claims for fatal injuries. The occupational groups which recorded the most claims for fatal injuries were agriculture & fisheries workers with 11 claims and plant & machine operators & assemblers with 10 claims.

Fatal injury claims increase with age, with those aged 65 and over accounting for 19 claims, or 28% of all claims in 2007, and only 3% of the labour force. This results in an incidence rate² about 9 times higher than the average of 4 fatal injury claims per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTEs) employees. However, their provisional incidence rate has fallen from 61 claims per 100,000 FTEs in 2005 to 36 in 2007.

Work-related injury claims

The provisional number of claims for work-related injury was 231,300 in 2007, which is down 3,900 from the corresponding provisional figure in 2006. As FTE employment grew by 1.3% in the year to December 2007, this has resulted in a decrease in the incidence rate for claims to ACC. In 2007 there were 122 claims per 1,000 FTEs, down from the provisional figure of 126 in 2006 and 132 in 2005.

Work-related injury trends

In addition to the provisional data for 2007, Statistics New Zealand also released final figures for the 2006 year. This allows us to compare how work-related injury and fatality claims have trended since 2002. While the total number of work-related injury claims has decreased slightly from 240,100 to 238,900, strong growth in employment over this time has resulted in the incidence rate falling from 143 claims per 1,000 FTEs in 2002 to 128 claims per 1,000 FTEs in 2006. Alternatively, total work-related fatality claims have increased slightly from 92 in 2005 to 103 in 2006, after remaining relatively steady in the previous four years.

Fig 1: Claims per 1,000 FTEs employed, 2007

Data Table for Figure 1

Claims by gender

In 2007, the incidence rate for males was 154 claims per 1,000 male FTEs compared with 79 claims per 1,000 female FTEs (Figure 1). This indicates that males are almost twice as likely to claim for a work-related injury than females.
Males accounted for nearly three quarters (73%) of all work-related injury claims in 2007. Of the 67 claims for fatal injuries, nearly all were for male workers. This reflects the male predominance in higher risk industries such as agriculture, manufacturing and construction.

Among males, workers aged 65 years and over had the highest incidence rate with 221 claims per 1,000 FTEs. However, they comprise only 3% of all work-related claims for males due to relatively low total numbers of workers. Those aged 15-24 had the second highest incidence rate with 204 claims per 1,000 FTEs. Among females, age differences in the incidence rates were less pronounced, although again those aged over 65 years had the highest incidence rate.

Claims by ethnicity

Europeans accounted for 68% of all claims for work-related injuries, followed by Maori (12%) and Pacific peoples (6%). Maori and Pacific workers had the highest incidence rates of work-related injury with 155 and 152 claims per 1,000 FTEs respectively. This compares with an incidence rate of 111 claims per 1,000 FTEs for Europeans and 121 claims per 1,000 FTEs for Asian and ‘Other’ ethnicities. The incidence rates for Maori, Europeans and the Asian and ‘Other’ ethnic groups have all decreased over the last year. The Pacific peoples incidence rate, however, has risen slightly from 149 to 152.

The difference in incidence rates by ethnicity reflects the high proportion of Maori and Pacific peoples who are employed in occupational groups with a higher incidence of work-related injury. The three occupational groups with the highest incidence rates of work-related injury (elementary occupations, plant & machine operators & assemblers, and agriculture & fishery workers). Household Labour Force Survey data show that in the year to December 2007, 35% of Pacific peoples and 34% of Maori were employed in these occupational groups compared to 19% of Europeans.

Claims by region

Gisborne/Hawke’s Bay and Otago/Southland had the highest incidence rates with 180 and 160 claims per 1,000 FTEs, respectively. The lowest rate was measured in the Wellington region with 69 claims per 1,000 FTEs. This compares with an average of 122 per 1,000 FTEs for New Zealand as a whole. As with ethnicity, these figures most likely vary due to the different composition of industries across regions.

Claims by industry

The manufacturing industry had the highest total number of claims in 2007 with 39,100, representing 17% of all claims made for work-related injuries. However, the agriculture, forestry & fishing industry had the highest incidence rate with 150 claims per 1,000 FTEs. It was followed closely by manufacturing (149 claims per 1,000 FTEs) and construction (141 claims per 1,000 FTEs). Nonetheless, all three industries have recorded a decline in their incidence rates over the last year.

Table 1: Claims for Work-Related Injuries by Industry, 2007

Industry	Total claims (000s)	Incidence rate (claims per 1000 FTEs)
Total	231.3	122
Agriculture, forestry, & fishing	19.6	150
Manufacturing	39.1	149
Construction	24.5	141
Cultural & recreation services	5.7	136
Mining	0.8	122
Transport & storage	8.3	113
Electricity, gas & water supply	0.9	105
Personal & other services	6.3	84
Wholesale trade	7.6	79
Retail trade	15.8	70
Communication services	2.2	67
Accommodation, cafes & restaurants	5.4	66
Property & business services	13.5	61
Health & community services	9.2	55
Education	6.2	44
Government administration & defence	3.4	39
Finance & insurance	1.2	18

Source: Claims for Work-Related Injuries, Statistics New Zealand.

The lowest incidence rate was for the finance & insurance industry which had only 18 claims per 1,000 FTEs. The variation in incidence rates by industry underlies many of the differences observed by ethnicity, age, sex and region. The distribution of claims by industry has remained relatively constant over recent years.

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Endnotes

1 These are claims made to ACC for work-related death. They are recorded by the year of the injury rather than the date of death. It should be noted that not all work-related fatalities result in a claim to ACC and so these figures do not fully portray the number of deaths from work-related injuries.

2 The incidence rate equals the number of injury claims per 1,000 full-time equivalents (FTEs) or the number of fatality claims per 100,000 FTEs.