NSW beats national workplace injuries average

The incidence rate of workplace injuries across NSW is below the national average, according to the latest report from the Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC).

The ASCC's 10th Comparative Performance Monitoring Report for 2006–07 reveals NSW has achieved significant reductions in the incidence of injuries, the number of long-term injury claims and scheme expenditure.

“The report highlights that our state is performing well against the National OHS Strategy — we are one of only four jurisdictions to exceed the interim target of a 20% reduction by June 2007,” said WorkCover NSW CEO Jon Blackwell.

The report also reveals:

• NSW has achieved the greatest reduction in the rate of injury and manual handling claims among the state and territory jurisdictions, with the report estimating a 28.9% improvement since June 2002.
• The incidence and frequency rates of claims for serious injuries and diseases across the state are now below the Australian average. In NSW, the incidence was 13.9 per 1000 employees with a frequency of 8.5 per 1,000,000 hours worked, compared to the national average of 14.2 and 8.8 respectively.
• NSW has the lowest incidence and frequency rates for long-term claims of all states and territories, with around a 40% reduction in claims longer than 12 weeks over the past four years.
• Scheme expenditure in NSW has been reduced by more than $750 million during the same period.

“The report clearly shows New South Wales is on target to achieve a 20% reduction in fatalities and 40% reduction in injuries by 2012 — the national target adopted following the 2002 NSW Safety Summit," said Blackwell.

“Although New South Wales has the lowest incidence of injuries in more than 20 years, there is still more work to be done.

“The state government will continue to work closely with industry to deliver real improvements to workplace safety and workers compensation, to make workplaces safer and more productive," he said.

The Comparative Performance Monitoring Report is available from www.workplace.gov.au/cpm.