The Burden of Occupational Disease and Injury in New Zealand: Technical Report
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8 Summary and Conclusions
This report summarises what is known about work-related disorders in New Zealand, based on published literature. For each disorder, New Zealand-based information on exposures and relative or absolute risks was sought.
Little information was available for the vast majority of exposures of interest.
There is a particular lack of information on work-related morbidity and mortality in women, Māori, and Pacific people, and on work-related injuries and diseases sustained by bystanders.
Bearing these limitations of the data in mind, it is clear that work-related disease and injury is responsible for considerable morbidity and mortality in New Zealand. For mortality, disease represents a considerably greater (ten-fold) burden than does injury; about one third of the work-related deaths are due to cancer, and substantial proportions are due to respiratory disease and ischaemic heart disease. On the other hand, work-related accidents and injuries represent a greater burden of morbidity. Therefore a balanced approach is required in which both the prevention of work-related disease and the prevention of work-related injury receive appropriate attention and resources.
