Safe Work Australia, Compendium of Workers Compensation Statistics , February

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1 OH&S Performance in the Construction Industry The building and construction industry s OH&S performance remains a matter of concern to all industry participants. However, the industry has responded to the various pressures for improved occupational health and safety management, and according to the data analysed here, OH&S performance is improving. The data are drawn primarily from data supplied by Safe Work Australia from the National Data Set for Compensation based statistics (NDS) 1, the Safe Work Australia, Compendium of Workers Compensation Statistics Australia (the Compendium) and the Work-Related Traumatic Injury Fatalities, Australia report. In the most recent reports preliminary data is used for and it should be noted that claims rates may increase as liability on all claims is determined. Incidence and Frequency Rates Reducing Figure 1 3 shows that the building and construction industry is reducing its incidence rate (19.6 in ), but it is still much higher than that for all industries (12.9 in ). Figure 1: Incidence rate of serious claims 4 per 1,000 employees to Claims per 1000 employees Building and Construction Transport and Storage Agriculture Manufacturing All Industries Due to technical issues with the National Online Statistics Interactive system, the data was extracted from the National Data Set for Compensation based statistics (NDS) by Safe Work Australia and provided by spreadsheet. The date on which the data was extracted is included in the relevant footnote. 2 Safe Work Australia, Compendium of Workers Compensation Statistics , February Safe Work Australia, NDS, data extracted 14 September Serious claims include all fatalities, all permanent incapacity claims (as defined by the jurisdictions) and temporary claims for which one or more weeks of time lost from work has been recorded. Data was provided by Safe Work Australia on

2 Figure 1 also shows that while the construction industry s incidence rate plateaued in the period to , the rate of decrease in the period to (29 per cent) was still higher than for the three industries that have been adopted as high risk benchmark industries (transport and storage (19 per cent), agriculture (22 per cent) and manufacturing (25 per cent)). In the same period, the all industry rate fell by 23 per cent. In Figure 2 5 the frequency rate shows a similar trend, with building and construction outperforming the three high risk benchmark industries but still having a significantly higher frequency rate than the all industries rate (9.8 in compared with 7.6 for all industries). As with the incidence rate there was a plateau in the building and construction industry frequency rate in the period to Figure 2: Frequency rate of serious claims per 1 million hours to Fatalities Still a Major Concern Understanding fatality data in the construction industry is a complex matter. It is accepted that the compensated fatality data are likely to understate disease-related deaths, and also that the construction industry, having a significant percentage of self employed workers, is also likely to underestimate fatality numbers and rates. The recently released Work-Related Traumatic Injury Fatalities, Australia report 6 uses coronial information and notified fatalities data in addition to workers compensation data to provide an estimate of the number of fatalities from work-related injuries. 5 6 Safe Work Australia, NDS, data extracted 14 September Safe Work Australia, Work-Related Traumatic Injury Fatalities, Australia report, May 2011.

3 Of the 286 working fatalities 7 identified in , over half (54 per cent) were accounted for by the road freight transport, agriculture, manufacturing and construction industries. There were 44 working fatalities in the construction industry in The raw number of fatalities highlights two points. First, the number of fatalities in construction is unacceptably high, although there has been a reduction compared to the two previous years. While this reduction is encouraging, the significant human and economic cost associated with fatalities means that this area needs to be given the highest order priority. Second, from a statistical standpoint, the numbers do not allow much confidence in predicting sustainable trends into the future. As Figure 3 8 illustrates, a comparison of fatality rates over the to period shows considerable volatility in the rates in particularly on an industry by industry basis. Figure 3: Working fatalities: Fatality rate by industry of employer, to Deaths per 100,000 workers Building and Construction Transport and Storage Agriculture Manufacturing All Industries In terms of the fatality rate (deaths per 100,000 workers) agriculture, forestry and fishing (20.4), transport, postal and warehousing (11.2), and mining (7.2) had the highest rates in The building and construction industry rate at 4.5 was nearly double the all industries rate. Compensated fatality data also shows considerable volatility (Figure 4 9 ) especially for the transport and agriculture industries. The volatility in the figures makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions. However, the incidence rate for construction, the three high risk benchmark industries and the all industry rate were all lower in than in and the preliminary data for also signals that this is likely to be the case for that year. 7 Working fatalities exclude workers who died from an injury sustained while travelling to or from work and bystander fatalities (i.e. people died of injuries received as a result of someone else s work activity). 8 Safe Work Australia, Work-related traumatic injury fatalities, Australia , May 2011, page 7. 9 Safe Work Australia, NDS, data extracted 14 September 2011

4 Figure 4: Compensated Fatalities Incidence Rate (compensated fatalities per 100,000 employees) by industry of employer, to Compensated fatalities per 100,000 employees Building and Construction Transport and Storage Agriculture Manufacturing All Industries Compensated fatality data also allows an examination of the difference between traumatic and gradual onset fatalities which may be useful in directing effort to achieve reduction in fatality rates. The traumatic fatality cases directly reflect conditions in the period shown, whereas gradual onset fatalities may indicate the results of exposure to substances, materials and practices used in previous time periods. Diseases such as asbestosis and mesothelioma are examples. Figure 5 10 shows fatalities related to immediate causes (injury and poisoning), and excludes diseaserelated fatalities. The building and construction industry has reduced its rate by 29 per cent in the period to , compared with 38 per cent for all industries. There has been improvement in all sectors, but the rate of improvement is skewed by the underdeveloped numbers in Safe Work Australia, NDS, data extracted 21 September 2011

5 Figure 5: Incidence rate of compensated fatalities per 100,000 employees (injury only, NOSI September 2011) Injury related fatalities per 100,000 employees Building and Construction Transport and Storage Agriculture Manufacturing All Industries The equivalent series for disease related fatalities shows significant reductions in all the selected industries although building and construction has a higher rate (2 in ) than any of the high risk benchmark industries and is more than 3 times the all industries rate (0.6 in ). As noted earlier, these data are likely to understate disease related fatalities. For the five year period to , 36 per cent of all compensated fatalities in the building and construction industry were related to exposure to asbestos. There were 246 fatalities in this period, 89 of which were related to asbestos exposure. This accounts for nearly 80 per cent of all disease related compensated fatalities in this period. Of the 89 asbestos related fatalities, 65 were as a result of mesothelioma and 24 from asbestosis. 11 The significant impact of these disease cases reflects exposures from some time ago given the long latency period of these diseases. Over the past three years the most common causes of fatality in the Construction industry were: long term contact with chemicals or substances (often resulting in occupational diseases), accounting for 37% of fatalities vehicle incidents, which accounted for 16% of fatalities, and 11 Safe Work Australia, Compendium of Workers Compensation Statistics Australia , February 2011, page 57.

6 falls from a height, accounting for 11% of fatalities. 12 Another perspective on fatality data is to compare numbers and trends with an exposure denominator such as the level of building activity (Figure 6). One of the intuitive responses to fatalities is that they are more likely to occur when time pressures and labour supply shortages lead to poor practices. Figure 6: Number of compensated fatalities per $billion building work done 1.6 Number of fatalities // Value of Building Work Done $B Compensated fatalities per $B building work done 0 - Compensated fatalities (all) Value of Building Work Done ($b) Compensated fatalities per $B Building Work Done (all) Figure 6 shows the relationship between the level of building activity and the number and rate of fatalities. 13 The raw numbers suggest there is no relationship between the level of building activity and fatality numbers and rates: as activity has increased the number of fatalities has decreased. Nor does the compensated fatalities rate suggest a relationship. This suggests there is no relationship between the two variables and indicates that the reasons for fatalities may be more to do with practices unaffected by activity peaks. Performance Varies Across Jurisdictions The variation in performance across jurisdictions (Figure 2 14 ) can be a basis for trying to identify success factors or barriers to improvement. 12 Safe Work Australia, Information Sheet Construction, 2011, p.1 available on the Safe Work Australia web site 13 The data are drawn from the Australian Bureau of Statistics report number 8752 and from the NDS (data extracted 14 September 2011). 14 Safe Work Australia, NDS, data extracted 21 September Note that the figures for the ACT do not include serious claims for Commonwealth Government employees.

7 Figure 7: Serious claims: Incidence rates by jurisdiction Claims per 1000 employees NSW Vic Qld SA WA Tas NT ACT Aust Only Victoria has been consistently below the national incidence rate. New South Wales, Western Australia, Tasmania and South Australia have all achieved reductions in the incidence rate of at least 30% in the period to although Tasmania is still performing worse than the Australian average rate. Performance Varies Within Different Building and Construction Sectors The building and construction industry is diverse and represents many different types of construction activities and their attendant hazards. For statistical purposes the industry is classified into two groups, each with a number of sub-divisions as described below: 41 General Construction 411: Building Construction: covers the construction, alteration and repair of housing and other residential buildings; and non-residential buildings such as hotels, hospitals and prisons. 412: Non-Building Construction: covers the construction and repair of structures such as roads and bridges, railways, harbours, dams and pipelines. 42 Construction Trade Services 421: Site Preparation Services: covers activities such as earthmoving, such as in excavating and trench-digging, and the hire of excavation equipment with operators.

8 422: Building Structure Services: covers activities such as concreting, bricklaying, roofing services and structural steel erection services. 423: Installation Trade Services: covers activities such as plumbing, electrical, air conditioning and heating services and fire and security system services. 424: Building Completion Services: covers activities such as plastering and ceiling services, carpentry, tiling, painting, decorating and glazing services. 425: Other Construction Services: covers activities such as landscaping and other special services such as sand blasting and scaffold construction. Differences in risk exposure are found in these industry sub-groups, and these may influence claims performance. Figure 8 15 below shows that other than in the incidence rate for serious claims was lower in General Construction than in Construction Trade Services. The rate of improvement in the subdivisions of General Construction also were significantly higher than in any of the sub-divisions in Construction Trade Services Building Construction and Non-Building Construction achieved reductions in the incidence rate of 37 per cent and 39 per cent respectively in the period to The highest rate of improvement for Construction Trade Services was for Site Preparation (22 per cent). Figure 8: Incidence rate of serious claims per 1,000 employees for industry group and subdivisions 60.0 serious claims per 1000 employees Non-Bld Construction Bld Structure services Site Preparation Other construction services Bld Completion services Install Trade services Bld Construction GEN CONSTRUCTION CONST TRADE SERVICES Safe Work Australia, NDS, data extracted 21 September 2011

9 Injury Profile Has Not Changed Significantly Although there is evidence of reductions in the number and rate of claims, the profile of injury has not changed significantly. The most recent data shown in Figure 9 16 illustrate how rigid the profile is, with little change in the relative importance of the major mechanisms of injury revealed. Figure 9: % of claims Percentage serious claims by mechanism of injury or disease Body Stressing Falls, Trips and Slips of a person Being Hit by Moving Objects Hitting Objects with a part of body Sound and Pressure Body stressing remains the major source of serious claims and falls, trips and slips of a person were responsible for 26% of serious claims. Construction industry on track to meet OHS Strategy Targets Master Builders Australia has endorsed the National Occupational Health and Safety Strategy and has committed to achieving the reductions in the incidence rate of serious claims and fatality rate arising from work-related injury established by that strategy. Those targets are a 40 per cent reduction in the incidence of work-related injury by 30 June 2012 and a 20 per cent reduction in the incidence of compensated work-related fatalities by 30 June As can be seen from Figure below, the construction industry is on track to achieve the targeted reduction in the incidence rate of compensated work-related fatalities. The construction industry injury incidence rate has been closely tracking the target, but the plateau in the years to could make it difficult to achieve the 40 per cent reduction target by Delays in the 16 Safe Work Australia, NDS, data extracted 13 September Safe Work Australia, NDS, data extracted 13 September 2011

10 availability of data is likely to mean that it will be some 18 months to 2 years after 30 June 2012 before it is clear whether or not the target was met. Figure 10: Performance compared with OHS Strategy Targets Incidence rate per 1,000 employees Fatality rate per 100,000 employees Injury Incidence rate - Construction Reduction required to meet 40% target Fatality rate - Construction Reduction required to meet 20% target Base Summary of the industry in 2011 To the extent that national level statistics can adequately describe the state of OH&S performance in the construction industry, the following points are clear. In nearly all respects the construction industry has continued to improve performance, although claims incidence rates and fatality incidence rates are still much higher than the national average: The incidence rate for serious claims per 1000 employees is down 29 per cent ( to ). The incidence rate for compensated fatalities is down 44 per cent ( to ). The incidence rate for compensated fatalities related to traumatic injury only is down by 23 per cent ( to ) and the more comprehensive working-fatality data also shows a small (4 per cent) decrease from to With each of these rates fully developed data for the year is likely to moderate these reductions.

11 The construction industry is on track to meet the National OHS strategy target for incidence rate of compensated work-related fatalities although the target for the construction industry injury incidence rate may be more difficult to achieve. Some other features are also evident: The level of injury does not seem related to the level of construction activity, suggesting that risks are generated mainly by the operating practices of companies not the pressure of economic activity. The injury profile of the industry is dominated by manual handling and falls; there has been no change in this profile over the period to Disease related fatalities such as asbestosis and mesothelioma from exposures to asbestos many years ago continue to influence the construction rates much more than other industries. The non-building construction sector has the highest incidence rate compared with other categories in the construction industry, although this sector has also achieved a significant reduction (39 per cent) in the period. Master Builders Australia Limited 2011 Disclaimer: This document is not legal advice. Whilst every care has been taken in preparing this document, no responsibility will be accepted for actions taken in reliance upon information contained in this document.