Work health and safety data reporting

Approaches to reporting on and benchmarking WHS data

Work Health and Safety (WHS) data can be used to inform decisions that influence workplace safety. WHS data needs to be reliable, relevant and timely.

WHS data can include quantitative information such as the number or type of incident investigations and inspections, results from employee surveys, and injury metrics as well as qualitative information such as feedback from consultations with workers and worker representatives.

Consider the data available, what you are trying to measure, and the information needs of the audience you are reporting to. Do not to rely on any one indicator or measure, like injury rates, as this approach may miss important attributes about safety culture that can inform business decision making and strategic planning. Use multiple sources of information about WHS knowledge, performance and assurance in the workplace to build a holistic view of organisational WHS performance.  

For example: 

• qualitative and quantitative data from employee surveys and consultations are useful for identifying WHS risks and building an understanding of the safety culture in a workplace 
• monitoring the profile of work-related injuries can be useful in evaluating an active injury prevention program or initiative
• examining the consequence of injury (rather than the frequency) can help to evaluate the impact of injury to both the worker and the organisation

You may be able to compare your organisation’s hazards and injury data against Safe Work Australia’s data. This can be a useful way to benchmark your organisation against industries and occupations that have similar risk profiles. In some circumstances it may be more appropriate to compare your organisation’s current data to past data, for example, for small businesses where injury rates are not comparable to a national frequency rate.   

Safe Work Australia's report Measuring and Reporting on Work Health and Safety contains a range of insights on the approaches that can help you get the information you need to exercise WHS due diligence. It includes evidence-based indicators about WHS knowledge, controls, performance and assurance that may be useful to consider when reporting on your organisation's WHS performance. SafeWork NSW has also developed a practical guide based on this report

Data to inform WHS reporting

The below data can be used to help inform an assessment of your organisation's WHS practices.