TRUCK DRIVERS AND FARM WORKERS: RISK OF BEING KILLED WORKING

Safe Work Australia released its latest report on work-related deaths due to injury called Work-related Traumatic Injury Fatalities 2008-09.

This report indicates little change in the number of workers killed each with 286 workers killed in 2008-09, 100 of which were due to traffic incidents on public roads.

In addition 117 workers died while travelling to or from work and 41 members of the general public were killed due to someone else's work activity, according to Safe Work Australia.

Truck drivers and workers on farms are the groups most at risk of being killed while working.

The report said that 358 truck drivers have been killed while working over the six years until 30 June 2009.

In an associated report also just released, Safe Work Australia has found that 65 workers were killed in the four years from 1 July 2003 to 30 June 2007 due to working with tractors.

The major cause of death was due to being run over by the tractor which accounted for 25 of the deaths.

The report found that the number of workers killed due to the tractor rolling over has reduced from 40 in the 1989-92 period to 17 in the 2004-07 period.

This improvement has been linked to the introduction of rollover protection structures on tractors built after 1981.

The report can be found at www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au