Glossary

• Industry refers to the range of economic activities undertaken by a business to product goods and services.
• In the datasets held by Safe Work Australia, Industry information is classified according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC).

• Occupation refers to the type of job undertaken by a worker in the labour market.
• In the datasets held by Safe Work Australia, Occupation information is classified according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO).

A single public insurer (e.g. a government agency) performs most, if not all of a workers’ compensation insurer’s functions. Central insurers are responsible for underwriting their scheme

A dispute is an appeal to a formal mechanism, such as a review officer, conciliation or mediation service, against an insurer’s decision or decisions relating to compensation.

The ratio of assets to liabilities as at the end of the reference financial year.  The ratio represents the funding level of net outstanding claims, assuming all other current and non-current liabilities are fully funded.

• An amount to be paid for a contract of insurance
• Premium rates in the comparative performance monitoring are for policies that provide coverage for worker’ compensation. 

Most, if not all insurer functions are provided by the private sector through approved insurance companies and self-insuring employers who meet the appropriate prudential and other prerequisites. This includes underwriting.

• The 'Claims frequency rate' is defined as the number of Claims per million hours worked, using estimates of the working population covered under workers' compensation schemes.
• There are significant differences in the number of hours worked by different groups of workers, and workers at different points in time. The Claims frequency rate accounts for these differences and allows more accurate comparison between different groups of workers.

The 'Claims incidence rate' is defined as the number of Claims per 1,000 jobs, using estimates of the number of jobs filled by workers covered under a workers’ compensation scheme.

• Compensation paid is the total compensation paid for a work-related injury or illness, including any medical, etc etc based on the data dictionary.
• Compensation paid is usually reported using the median (mid-point of the data).
• Median compensation paid is not reported for the preliminary data reference period because some Claims remain open, meaning the total amount of compensation paid can change and the median may not be representative. Data for the most recent non-preliminary reporting period is used for reporting purposes in these instances.
• Median compensation paid excludes claims where zero compensation was paid

• The continuous period of 12 months from 1 July to 30 June.
• In reporting workers’ compensation claims, financial year usually indicates the year that a workers’ compensation claims was lodged.

The middle value in a distribution when all values are ordered from lowest to highest. If there is an even number of observations, the median value is the average of the two middle values.

• The year in which the latest workers’ compensation data was lodged, denoted by ‘p’ (e.g. 2022-23p).
• Preliminary years are denoted in reporting as the underlying data is likely to be revised over future years as open claims are finalised. 

• Safe Work Australia reports on time away from work due to a workers’ compensation claim in terms of ‘working weeks lost’
• The number of working weeks lost is calculated by dividing a worker’s time lost in hours by the number of hours they usually work per week. For example, a worker who usually works 20 hours a week and lost 60 hours of work to their injury/disease would have 3 weeks of lost time.
• Median time lost is not reported for the preliminary data reference period because some Claims remain open, meaning the total amount of time away from work can change and the median may not be representative. Data for the most recent non-preliminary reporting period is used for reporting purposes in these instances.
• Median time lost excludes claims where zero time lost was recorded

‘Lost time claims’ are accepted workers' compensation claims that resulted in one day/shift or more away from work, fatality, or permanent impairment.

‘Permanent impairment claims’ are accepted workers' compensation claims that result in total or partial permanent incapacity (as defined by jurisdictions) or fatality.

• 'Serious claims' are accepted claims involving one or more working weeks of time lost. Serious claims are a subset of total claims.
• Serious claims are the basis of reporting in Safe Work Australia analysis and data insights.

Significant lost time claims are accepted workers' compensation claims that involve 13 weeks or more away from work.

• Total claims are all accepted workers' compensation claims across Australian jurisdictions.
• ‘The National Dataset for Compensation Based Statistics (NDS) is the dataset of all accepted workers’ compensation claims in Australia.

The Current Returned to Work Rate is the proportion of injured workers surveyed who reported having returned to work at any time since their work-related injury or illness and were in a paid job at the time of interview.

The Returned to Work Rate is the proportion of injured workers surveyed who reported having returned to work at any time since their work-related injury or illness.

Represents the Claims made in the Commonwealth jurisdiction (Comcare) [excluding ACT government], including Claims made to the Seacare Authority (Seacare).

• The Australian state or territory which a workers compensation claims was lodged, or a traumatic workplace fatality occurred.
• The jurisdiction of the court – Commonwealth, state, or territory – where the prosecution was decided.

• Amount of the fine and/or other financial penalty (for example, contribution to court fund, contribution to regulator and/or levy for affected individuals) per offence. 
• Excludes court costs, as these are not always specified.

Main type of offence for which the defendant was prosecuted under the Act or Regulation, as cited in the WHS prosecution. Where the defendant was prosecuted for more than one offence, the main offence is the most serious offence they were charged with.

A formal statement by or on behalf of the defendant(s), stating guilt or innocence in response to a charge for WHS breach(es), offering an allegation of fact, or claiming that a point of law should apply.

Fatalities resulting from an injury sustained in the course of a work activity

The 'Fatalities rate' is defined as the number of Fatalities per 100,000 workers, using estimates of the entire working population including Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel.    

• The Agency refers to the object, substance or circumstance directly involved in inflicting the injury or disease.
• The TOOCS Agency classification has 4 levels: Major group, Sub-major group, and Minor group, and Sub-minor group.

The Bodily location refers to the part of the body affected by the most serious injury or disease.

Breakdown refers to the object, substance or circumstance that was principally involved in, or most closely associated with, the point at which things started to go wrong and which ultimately led to the most serious injury or disease

The Mechanism identifies the overall action, exposure or event that best describes the circumstances that resulted in the most serious injury or disease.

The Nature refers to the most serious injury or disease sustained or suffered by the worker.

• The number of LTIs per million hours worked over a given time-period. 
• Data required for calculating LTIFR may be available through the ABS Work-related injuries publication. 

• A lost-time injury (LTI) is defined as work-related injury or disease that results in a fatality, permanent disability or time lost from work of one day/shift or more.
• Safe Work Australia defines one day/shift of time lost is defined as 3 hours of time lost as per the typical minimum shift length requirements.

A medically treated injury (MTI) is any work-related injury or disease that results in medical attention from a health professional beyond the requirements of first aid.

• The number of MTIs per million hours worked over a given time period. 
• Safe Work Australia does not collect data which can be used to benchmark MTIFRs.

The total recordable injuries (TRIs) are all work-related injuries, including minor injuries with no time lost.

• The number of TRIs per million hours worked over a given time period. 
• Safe Work Australia does not collect data which can be used to benchmark TRIFRs. Data required for calculating TRIFR may be available through the ABS Work-related injuries publication.