CHAPTER 15. OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES AND DISEASES
15.3 The sixteenth ICLS made recommendations in relation to the coverage of statistics on occupational injuries and the types of information countries should aim to collect. Data should be collected for all of the occupational injuries defined above, for both fatal and non-fatal injuries which cause an absence of work of at least one day (excluding the day of the accident). The statistics should cover all workers regardless of their status in employment (e.g. employees, employers and own-account workers), as well as child workers, informal sector workers and homeworkers.
15.4 The measurement unit recommended to be used for statistics on the nature and incidence of occupational injuries should be the 'case of occupational injury'. If a person is injured in more than one occupational accident during the reference period, each case of injury to that person should be separately counted. The sixteenth ICLS also recommended that data should be collected on: the enterprise, establishment or local unit; the person injured; the injury; and the accident and its circumstances.
AUSTRALIAN COLLECTIONS AND DEFINITIONS
15.5 In Australia, statistics on occupational injuries and diseases are available from household surveys conducted by the ABS and administrative records of state, territory and Australian compensation authorities compiled by Safe Work Australia.
ABS Household Surveys
15.6 The main ABS statistics relating to the incidence of occupational injury and disease are available from the Work-related injuries topic on the Multipurpose Household Survey (MPHS) (see Chapter 22.3). The survey includes injuries sustained by all categories of employed workers, injuries that have been claimed under workers' compensation and injuries that have not been claimed under workers' compensation. It excludes work-related illnesses or injuries resulting in death.
15.7 While the terminology used in the Work-related injuries survey topic ('work-related injuries') differs from that used in the international standards, the underlying definitions are broadly consistent with those recommended by the ICLS. The survey has not sought to distinguish between 'work-related illnesses', 'work-related injuries' or 'work-related injuries sustained on journeys to or from work'. Instead, it broadly defines work-related injuries as illnesses or injuries sustained as a result of work activities, on a journey to or from work, or the aggravation of pre-existing conditions where employment was a contributory factor.
15.8 Some data are also available from the Australian Health Survey, which collects information about recent illnesses and long term conditions and whether they are work-related. For more information on survey content and methodology see the Australian Health Survey: Users' Guide, 2011–13 (cat. no. 4363.0.55.001).
Safe Work Australia's National Data Set for Compensation-based statistics
15.9 Safe Work Australia's National Data Set for Compensation-based Statistics (NDS) is a standard set of data items, concepts and definitions for inclusion in workers’ compensation systems operating in Australia and enables the production of national and nationally comparable workers' compensation-based data. It is complied from compensable injuries and diseases made under the state, territory and Australian Government worker's compensation Acts, and as such only covers compensable injuries and diseases (not information on workers not covered for workers’ compensation or who choose not to make a claim).
15.10 The NDS is supported by several classification systems, including the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO) and the Type of Occurrence Classification System (TOOCS). TOOCS is central to NDS. It consists of hierarchical classifications for nature, bodily location, mechanism, breakdown agency, agency of injury or disease.
15.11 Definitions of occupational injuries and occupational diseases used in the NDS are consistent with international standards. These definitions are:
15.12 The NDS coverage of workers' compensation claims is consistent with international standards except for:
15.13 The type and level of detail of the information to be collected for each claim is consistent with international standards and include:
15.14 More information on the NDS and workers' compensation data is available from Safe Work Australia's website, see Workers' compensation data.