Work Health and Safety Qld: Regional injury heat maps show where work is needed
Source: Work Health and Safety Queensland
Following positive industry feedback for the harm index, which shows employers exactly where more needs to be done to improve work safety, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland has published a series of heat maps that show the relative harm by occupation for each of five Queensland regions.
The harm index is a ratio of total statutory costs (an indicator of severity) to exposure (the number of workers covered) to give an assessment of risk. It combines workers' compensation claim numbers and costs of workplace incidents to produce a visual representation of the relative harm workers are likely to sustain during their working lives.
The latest version of the heat maps has been published to show occupations with high harm values and high numbers of claims in the Brisbane North and Sunshine Coast; Brisbane South and Gold Coast; South West Queensland; Central Queensland and Wide Bay; and North Queensland regions.
Central Queensland and Wide Bay represented the highest harm of all regions. Labourers, factory process workers, road and rail drivers and automotive and engineering trades workers showed the most risk of harm. However, this high harm value was mainly attributed to the larger proportion (56.3 per cent) of finalised claims that corresponded to medium high and high harm occupations.
Brisbane North and Sunshine Coast, with over one third (36.3 per cent) of finalised claims in Queensland represented the second highest harm of all regions. Labourers, factory process workers, road and rail drivers, construction trades workers and automotive and engineering trades workers showed the most risk of harm.
Brisbane South and Gold Coast, again with over one third (33.7 per cent) of finalised claims in Queensland represented the third highest harm of all regions. Labourers, factory process workers, storepersons, construction trades workers and automotive and engineering trades workers showed the most risk of harm.
South West Queensland represented the fourth highest harm of all regions - lower than the overall Queensland harm. Labourers, factory process workers, mobile plant operators, food trades workers and automotive and engineering trades workers showed the most risk of harm.
North Queensland, with the lowest proportion of finalised claims in Queensland, also represented the lowest harm of all regions. Labourers, mobile plant operators, road and rail drivers, construction trades workers and automotive and engineering trades workers showed the most risk of harm.
Further information
To view all versions of the heat maps, visit www.worksafe.qld.gov.au.
