Queensland Workplace Health & Safety Board - Key Statistical Indicators

Transcription

1 Workplace Health & Safety Queensland Queensland Workplace Health & Safety Board - Key Statistical Indicators Quarterly Update 1/ WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 1 of 19

2 CONTENTS 1. QUEENSLAND PERFORMANCE AGAINST NATIONAL STRATEGY TARGETS WORKERS COMPENSATION CLAIMS DATA WORKPLACE HEALTH & SAFETY QUEENSLAND PERFORMANCE...13 WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 2 of 19

3 1. Queensland performance against national strategy targets Injury and musculoskeletal target According to the latest Comparative Performance Monitoring Report (CPM) Queensland s performance reversed the improvement over the last two years and ended below the target of 40 percent reduction by The Queensland injury rate improved by 20.5 per cent over the course of the Strategy. Serious injuries are those with a duration greater than five days, in the most recent CPM (15th edition) report Queensland recorded a slight increase in these claims. This increase in the last year of the strategy reduced Queensland s improvement against the base period by 0.6 per cent. Figure 1 - Queensland incidence rate of serious injuries against the national strategy target. Rate per 1,000 workers Base period p Qld Actual Target Reduction required to meet target Queensland s improvement of 20.5 per cent for makes it the sixth most improved jurisdiction out of the ten being measured across Australia. Only South Australia met their required rate of improvement recording a 43.7 per cent reduction over the course of the strategy. WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 3 of 19

4 Figure 2 - Queensland s performance against other jurisdictions Rate per 1,000 workers Base period p SA NSW NT Vic Aus Gov Qld Tas WA ACT Source: Comparative Performance Monitoring Report 15th Edition, Indicator 2. The industry that had the highest average rate of serious non fatal injuries between and was Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing closely followed by Manufacturing. On average, for all industries between and the rate of serious non fatal injuries decreased by 17.1 per cent (from 15.7 per 1,000 to 13.0 per 1,000). This decrease was largely driven by the Government administration and Defence (-53%); Manufacturing (-36%); and Construction (-26%) industries. Notably, the industry that recorded the highest injury rate in the seven year period was Manufacturing, with 35.4 per 1,000 workers in Meanwhile, the Finance and Insurance Services industry recorded the lowest injury rate of 1.9 per 1,000 workers in The industries which recorded an increase in incidence rate between and were: Property and Business services (31%); Electricity, Gas and Water Supply (17%); Personal and Other Services (13%); Education (2%); and Retail Trade (1%). WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 4 of 19

5 Table 1 - Queensland serious non fatal injury rates by Industry (per 1,000 workers) Industry proj Accommodation, cafes and restaurants Agriculture, forestry and fishing Communication services Construction Cultural and recreational services Education Electricity, gas and water supply Finance and insurance Government administration and defence Health and community services Manufacturing Personal and other services Property and business services Retail trade Transport and storage Wholesale trade Total Source: Safe Work Australia, National Dataset, October 2013 Fatality target In the latest Comparative Performance Monitoring Report (CPM15), the number of compensated fatalities from injury and musculoskeletal disorders in Queensland almost halved in (32 fatalities) when compared to the previous years. Further, this is the third successive year that Queensland has recorded lower numbers of compensated fatalities from injury and musculoskeletal disorders than New South Wales. Table 2 - Queensland fatalities for injury and musculoskeletal disorders against other jurisdictions proj New South Wales Queensland Victoria Western Australia South Australia Tasmania Northern Territory Australian Total WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 5 of 19

6 The CPM Report does not provide a jurisdictional break-down of the progress against the National Strategy fatality target, so it is not possible to compare Queensland s fatality rate against other jurisdictions as done for the National Strategy injury target. However, the CPM Report does provide the number of accepted compensated work-related fatality claims by jurisdiction, dividing this by the number of employees covered by workers compensation scheme, Queensland s fatality rate can be approximated. Using this methodology, Queensland s incident rate improved by 26 per cent over the period from to This is a significant change in the trend of compensated fatalities in Queensland, where between to the fatal incident rate increased by 54 per cent. Figure 3 - Queensland s incidence rate of fatalities against the national strategy target. Claim rate per 100,000 workers Base period p Qld Actual Target Reduction required to meet target The industry with the highest number of work-related fatalities between and , was the Transport & Storage (70 fatalities) industry, followed by the Construction (45 fatalities), the Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing (28 fatalities) industry and Manufacturing (23 fatalities). WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 6 of 19

7 Table 3 - Queensland fatalities broken down by Industry. Industry Sector proj Total Accommodation, cafes and restaurants Agriculture, forestry and fishing Communication services Construction Cultural and recreational services Education Electricity, gas and water supply Government administration and defence Finance and insurance Health and community services Manufacturing Personal and other services Property and business services Retail trade Transport and storage Wholesale trade Total a a Includes Mining Figure 4 - Queensland fatalities broken down by high-risk industry sector. Number of fatalities proj Agriculture, forestry and fishing Construction Manufacturing Transport and storage WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 7 of 19

8 2. Queensland Workplace Health & Safety Internal Monitoring Measures 1,2,3,6 WHSQ Internal Monitoring Fatal Claims Measure The rate of accepted fatal claims per 100,000 employees is relatively volatile, but on yearon-year terms decreased sharply in both and , before climbing again in the period immediately following. The fatal claim rate has been consistently below the base period from to While the claim rate for showed a decrease of 39 per cent from a year earlier, claims lodged in have yet to fully develop Table 4 Accepted fatal claims Base Period a Employees ( 000) 1, , , , , ,021.7 No. Claims Rate (per 100,000 employees) Annual rate % change -21% b -46% 20% 11% Rate % change from base period 10% -41% -29% -21% a base period includes to b percentage change between and Figure 5 - Accepted fatal claim rate, base period ( to ) to Accepted fatal claim rate (per 100,000 employees) Base Period Please note: The accepted fatal claim rate for is subject to further development WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 8 of 19

9 WHSQ Internal Monitoring Non-Fatal Claims Measure From to , the non-fatal claim rate (per 1,000 employees) declined steadily. While the non-fatal claim rate showed a 24 per cent decrease in , claims accepted in have yet to fully develop. Based on the recent trend of the non-fatal claim rate, it is likely that CPM 15 will show an overall improvement in the Injury and musculoskeletal target for Queensland of around percent for Table 5 Accepted non- fatal claims Base Period a Employees ( 000) 1, , , , , ,021.7 No. Claims 25,440 31,341 29,766 29,344 29,312 22,277 Rate (per 1,000 employees) Annual rate % change -4% a -5% -4% -2% Rate % change from base period -5% -10% -13% -15% a base period includes to b percentage change between and Figure 6 - Accepted non-fatal claim rate, base period ( to ) to Accepted non fatal claim rate (per 1,000 employees) m Base Period Please note: The accepted non-fatal claim rate for is subject to further development WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 9 of 19

10 3. Workers compensation claims data All workers compensation claims 2,4,6 Accepted claims 2,3,4,6 Table 6 - Accepted Claims (On Duty and at Place of Work) by Severity % of Total Accept ed Claims Fatal % Total non-fatal 72,422 82,610 87,173 85,688 80,930 80,647 78,795 61, % Permanent impairment 5,650 5,876 6,008 5,748 5,305 4,994 3,843 1,142 6% Serious temporary Injury ( 5 working days duration) 23,063 24,564 25,513 25,593 24,461 24,350 25,469 21, % Short-term temporary injury (< 5 working days duration) 43,709 52,170 55,652 54,347 51,164 51,303 49,483 38, % Asbestosis/ Mesothelioma Claims % Total 72,592 82,754 87,340 85,822 81,039 80,790 78,964 61, %* Rate (per 1,000 workers) Annual % Change -1% a 8% 2% -5% -6% -2% -4% -4% Source: Queensland Employee Injury Database. Data current as at June quarter 2013 Includes on duty, on break at place of work & employees only. Claims are subject to development. a % change between & *Totals may not add to 100% due to rounding The total number of accepted claims decreased over the last five financial years after an historical high in However, asbestosis or mesothelioma claims have increased from to Claims for are yet to fully develop. The jump in claims from to was due to the introduction of the fax fee by WorkCover Queensland, the initiative was designed to reduce the under-reporting of claims and also to improve intervention timeframes. WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 10 of 19

11 Figure 7 - Intimated & Accepted Claims Rates ( to ) Claim rate (per 1,000 employees) m Intimated claim rate Accepted claim rate Intimated claims are all claims lodged in the Queensland Workers Compensation scheme. From to , the average difference between the intimated and accepted claim rates was 8.8 claims per 1,000 workers. As a result of changes to the workers compensation scheme, the claim rates in Figure 7 are based on employees only. As such, the above figure should not be compared to previous reports. WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 11 of 19

12 Fatal claims 2,3,4,6 Table 7 - Accepted Fatal Claims by Type Commuting On break & other Working away from normal workplace On duty road traffic accidents On duty at place of work Traumatic injuries Diseases Other Total Rate (per 100,000 workers) Annual % Change 3% a -10% 22% -5% -33% -6% -6% Source: Queensland Employee Injury Database. Data current as at June quarter 2013 The method of identification of fatal claims was recently reviewed, this has lead to a decrease in both the number of claims and the reported rate. As such, the above table may not match previous reports. Includes employees only. Excludes fatalities due to asbestosis or mesothelioma Claims are subject to development a % change between and Given the small numbers of accepted fatal claims, it is difficult to determine an overarching trend due to volatility. From to commuting claims account for the majority of accepted fatal claims, followed by traumatic injuries that occur while on duty, at the workplace. Asbestosis/Mesothelioma claims 2,3,4,6 Table 8 - Accepted Asbestosis/Mesothelioma Claims by Severity Fatal Permanent Impairment Temporary Impairment Common Law Other Total Source: Queensland Employee Injury Database. Data current as at June quarter 2013 Claims are subject to development Includes employees only. WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 12 of 19

13 4. Workplace Health & Safety Queensland Performance This section seeks to highlight: the quantity of contacts made to WHSQ and indicators of the quality and timeliness of contact services provided; inspectorate capacity as compared with other WHS regulators; the quantum of inspectorate proactive and reactive activity undertaken; the areas in which inspectorate resources have been allocated; the major campaigns underway within WHSQ; the quantum of notices issued by the inspectorate to bring about compliance; and the extent of the use of sanctions by WHSQ inspectors. A mixture of internal data, derived databases used by inspectors, Infoline contact officers and licensing staff, has been sourced for this report along with data that is reported in Comparative Performance Monitoring Reports produced by Safe Work Australia. WHSQ contact Table 9 - WHSQ contact to YTD Type of contact YTD Incident notifications a 6,537 4, Complaints a 4,559 5,360 1,862 Number of occupational licensing transactions b 87,769 74,012 15,174 Clients accessing information and advisory services, which is made up of the following four measures: 2,365,802 2,178, ,844 Number of telephone enquiries to AAA Centre c 111, ,570 25,807 Number of enquiries to AAA Centre c 6,111 4,755 1,161 Clients accessing information via regional counter visits d 9,052 3, Visits to website e 2,239,392 2,056, ,328 Grade of service (percentage of calls answered in less than 3 minutes by Infoline) c 75% 78% 66% Calls abandoned (percentage of incoming) c 8% 10% 12% Percentage of calls answered without delay c 43% 37% 50% Sources a Source data supplied by BSSU October 2013 (and DG Report Card for previous periods) b Supplied by Licensing Services c Supplied by AAA Centre d Supplied by Regional Directors e Supplied by Awareness and Engagement Unit WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 13 of 19

14 Inspectorate capacity According to the latest Comparative Performance Monitoring Report, for the year (the latest reference year in the report), Queensland, in comparison with the other Australian jurisdictions had the: third highest number of active field inspectors; and the fourth highest number of active field inspectors per 10,000 workers. Table 10 - WHS jurisdictional inspectorate capacity, Jurisdiction NSW VIC QLD WA SA TAS NT ACT Number of active field inspectors Active Field inspectors per 10,000 employees Source Comparative Performance Monitoring Report 15 th Edition Inspectorate activity Table 11 - WHSQ inspectorate activity, to YTD Rate per '000 Rate per '000 Rate per '000 Type of activity a employing employing YTD employing businesses* b businesses* b businesses* b Total number of workplace visits 31, , ,847 N/A Total number of distinct workplaces visited 14, , ,964 N/A Assessments conducted 22, , ,340 N/A Advisories conducted 4, , N/A Investigations conducted 1, N/A Sources a Source data supplied by BSSU October 2013 (and DG Report Card for previous periods) b Source ABS Counts of Australian Businesses, June June 2011 * Number of businesses employing staff in Qld ABS estimate June 2011 Under the new Workplace Health and Safety Response Assessment Process (WRAP), events received by each region are triaged to determine the regional response. This response can include a determination to close out the event, create and allocate a response assessment, allocate as an investigation, or an escalation through these responses as required. According to the latest available Comparative Monitoring Report, for the year, Queensland compared with other Australian jurisdictions, had the: highest number of proactive workplace visits; and highest number of workshops/presentations/seminars/forums. WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 14 of 19

15 Table 12 - WHS jurisdictional inspectorate activity, Jurisdiction NSW VIC QLD WA SA TAS NT ACT Number of workplace visits: proactive 6,577 21,945 26,091 5,228 9,201 4, Number of workshops/ presentations/seminars/forums : proactive 1,065 u/a 3, Number of workplace visits: reactive 13,652 18,567 2,455 4,446 9,510 3,230 2,889 1,574 Other reactive interventions 26,244 u/a 10,710 17,307 11,869 2,276 u/a 0 Source Comparative Performance Monitoring Report 15 th Edition Inspectorate resource allocation 8 The following tables provide two different ways of illustrating the allocation of inspectorate resource to industry groups. Table 13 illustrates proportion allocation of inspector time within particular business groups. Table 14 illustrates the proportion of the total number of activities that have been undertaken within particular business groups. The presentation of the information using the two tables helps to verify the allocation of resources across the industry groups. The data presented highlights complementary allocation of resources regardless of the data used. Table 13 - WHSQ inspectorate resource allocation by industry, to YTD (per cent of total activities based on time allocation) a Industry Group YTD Construction 47% 39% 40% Transport, postal and warehousing 4% 4% 3% Manufacturing 14% 12% 11% Health care and social assistance 1% 2% 2% Public administration and safety 1% 6% 5% Agriculture, forestry and fishing 2% 3% 4% Education and training 1% 3% 3% Other * 30% 31% 32% Total 100% 100% 100% Source a Source data supplied by BSSU October 2013 * Includes where industry is not recorded, Mining, and other industries such as Accommodation and Food Services, Administrative and Support Services, Arts and Recreation Services and Professional, Scientific and Technical Services Table 14 - WHSQ inspectorate resource allocation by industry, to YTD (per cent of field activities based on activity count) a Industry Group YTD Construction 38% 47% 46% Transport, postal and warehousing 4% 3% 3% WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 15 of 19

16 Industry Group YTD Manufacturing 14% 11% 9% Health care and social assistance 2% 2% 2% Public administration and safety 7% 2% 1% Agriculture, forestry and fishing 3% 2% 3% Education and training 2% 2% 2% Other * 30% 31% 34% Total 100% 100% 100% Source a Source data supplied by BSSU October 2013 * Includes where industry is not recorded, Mining, and other industries such as Accommodation and Food Services, Administrative and Support Services, Arts and Recreation Services and Professional, Scientific and Technical Services Major WHSQ campaigns 9 The following table highlights the activity within major campaigns underway at 30 September These campaigns are typically run across all regions. Table 15 - WHSQ inspectorate activity as a direct result of major campaigns conducted a Workplace visits Campaign Type of campaign Campaign timeframe YTD Total visits for campaign Construction housekeeping Construction falls from heights Construction mobile plant Asbestos Registers Service Stations b Quad Bikes b Compliance Compliance Compliance Compliance and Advisory Compliance and Advisory Compliance and Advisory October 2010 June ,081 1, ,974 October 2010 June ,481 1, ,404 October 2010 June ,027 January 2012 June , ,285 July 2012 June 2014 n/a July 2012 June 2014 n/a Source a Source data supplied by BSSU October 2013 b These campaigns were in the planning stage throughout the first half of 2012 calendar year. Workplace assessment site visits did not commence until Aug Refer to the Campaigns paper for detailed information about the current campaigns underway. WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 16 of 19

17 Compliance notices WHSQ inspectors issue a range of notices for the legislation under which they have been appointed as inspectors. Table 16 deals with the notices that are issued that require a compliance action by the person on whom the notice has been issued. Table 16 - WHSQ compliance notices by category, to YTD a Notice Type Rate per '000 employing businesses* b Rate per '000 employing businesses* b YTD Rate per '000 employing businesses* b Improvement notices 6, , ,306 N/A Prohibition notices N/A 1, , Dangerous goods N/A directives c Electrical safety N/A protection notices Unsafe equipment N/A notices Total 8, , ,679 N/A Source a Source data supplied by BSSU October 2013 (and DG Report Card for previous periods) b Source ABS Counts of Australian Businesses, June 2007 June 2011 c Dangerous goods directives are no longer issued since 1 January 2012 due to the repeal of the Dangerous Goods Safety Management Act * Number of businesses employing staff in Qld ABS estimate June 2011 Based on the latest CPM Table 17 sets out the number of improvement and prohibition notices issued by WHS jurisdictions in This highlights that WHSQ inspectors issued less improvement notices than other jurisdictions but issued the highest number of prohibition notices. Direct comparisons of notices issued cannot be made due to differences in jurisdictional policy about the number of breaches that can be addressed on a single notice. Table 17 - WHS jurisdictional prohibition and improvement notices issued, Jurisdiction NSW VIC QLD WA SA TAS NT ACT Number of improvement notices issued 8,859 17,907 7,030 8,212 2, Number of prohibition notices issued , Source Comparative Performance Monitoring Report 15 th Edition Sanctions Infringement notices, prosecutions and enforceable undertakings are the key sanctions available under Queensland WHS legislation. Table 18 highlights the application of infringement notices and enforceable undertakings. WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 17 of 19

18 There are two reasons for the decrease in infringement notices being issued, firstly under the harmonised laws the number of breaches where infringements notices can be issued against has significantly reduced and also WHSQ is conducting more risk based prosecutions where greater time and resources are required. Table 18 - Infringement notices and undertakings, to YTD Type of Sanction YTD Number of infringement notices a Total of infringement fines a $190,049 $106,448 $26,672 Total number of electrical safety and WHS undertakings accepted by the Director-General b Source a Source data supplied by BSSU October 2013 (and DG Report Card for previous periods) b Supplied by Program Co-ordinator, Enforceable Undertakings Program, for last period (and DG Report Card for previous periods) According to the latest Comparative Performance Monitoring Report, for the year, Queensland, in comparison with the other Australian jurisdictions (see Table 19) had the second highest number of finalised legal proceedings. Table 19 - WHS jurisdictional application of sanctions, Jurisdiction NSW VIC QLD WA SA TAS NT ACT Legal proceedings finalised Successful legal proceedings a Number of infringement notices issued 357 n/a 207 n/a n/a Source Comparative Performance Monitoring Report 15 th Edition a Successful legal proceedings are those which result in a conviction, order or agreement Refer to the Legal Proceedings and Enforceable Undertakings paper for more information about these types of sanctions. WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 18 of 19

19 1. The Queensland Workplace Health and Safety internal monitoring measures are designed to be lead indicators of what will be reported in the Comparative Performance Monitoring report (CPM) published annually by Safework Australia. These measures are as close to the national strategy targets as is possible using internal WHSQ data and published ABS data. The monitoring measures are based on accepted claims from employees, including all on duty claims and on break claims at the place of work, and are based on permanent impairment claims and temporary impairment claims with 5 working days or more absence. The base period for measurement is to Workers compensation data is sourced from the Queensland Employee Injury Database. Data is current as at the March quarter 2013 and is subject to change with further development. The mining industry is excluded from all data. 3. Accepted claims are those claims for which liability has been accepted by insurers at least once in the claim s history. Some claim types take longer to be accepted, in particular fatalities, diseases and permanent impairment claims. 4. WorkCover Queensland has changed how it processes claims for latent onset diseases. Workers with some terminal latent onset diseases (eg asbestosis, mesothelioma, skin cancers, passive smoking) have the option of receiving a lump sum payment at the time of diagnosis, or a payment to their estate on their death. Workers who accept the lump sum payment upfront are no longer classified as fatalities, even after they have actually died. Dependents normally don t notify WorkCover Queensland when the worker has died. 5. Asbestosis/mesothelioma claims represent the majority of cases affected by this change with only three skin cancer and passive smoking claims so far affected. As a consequence, there is little value in ongoing reporting of fatal asbestosis and mesothelioma claims. Workers diagnosed with asbestosis/mesothelioma will now be treated as a separate category irrespective of whether the worker has died yet or not. 6. The identification of the employment status of compensated workers has improved (ie whether the worker is an employee, self-employed, volunteer, or student on industry placement). This has resulted in small changes to the number of employees used to calculate injury and fatality rates for the monitoring measures. The full-time series has been updated with the revised data to ensure timeseries consistency. 7. Statutory Notices are from the Compliance Investigation System and represent both notices issued as a result of reactive investigations and notices issued as a result of proactive assessments. 8. The resource allocation for the inspectorate (Table 11) has been determined using the time recorded in the Compliance & Investigation System Refresh (CISR) for an inspector to action an event, investigation, assessment or advisory including travel time. The resource allocation for the inspectorate (Table 12) has been determined using the total number of field activities recorded in CISR, to action an event, investigation, assessment or advisory. 9. Major Campaigns listed in this table are those state-wide proactive campaigns that involve the greatest amount of inspectorate resource. 10. Percentage of calls answered without delay - this percentage represents calls answered within 20 seconds. 11. Field Activities is made up of the following activity types - Workplace Consultation, Workplace Observation, Workplace Survey Visit, Group Coaching Delivery, Relationship Management Program Development and Negotiation, Site Monitoring, Site Visit, Site Visit (No Insp Report), and Toolbox Talks. WHS Board Key Statistical Indicators November 2013 Page 19 of 19