Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2026

In 2025, 222 workers died from traumatic injuries sustained while working. The fatality rate was 1.5 fatalities per 100,000 workers. 

Over the longer term, the fatality rate has decreased by 15%, falling from 1.8 fatalities per 100,000 workers in 2015 to 1.5 in 2025. However, the rate has remained relatively steady in recent years. 

Demographics

Worker fatalities by sex, 2025

Note: There was one worker fatality in 2025 where sex was unknown. 

The vast majority of worker fatalities occurred among men, who accounted for 93% (206 fatalities) of all work-related traumatic injury deaths in 2025. 

Men also have a significantly higher fatality rate than women, at 2.7 fatalities per 100,000 workers compared with 0.2 per 100,000 workers for women. 

Worker fatalities by age group, 2025

Note: There was one worker fatality in 2025 where age was unknown.

Workers aged 45 and over accounted for close to two-thirds (62%) of all worker fatalities recorded in 2025.  

Workers aged 65 and over had the highest fatality rate, at 5.5 fatalities per 100,000 workers, more than 3 times the overall worker fatality rate.  

By contrast, workers aged under 25 had the lowest fatality rate at 0.7 fatalities per 100,000 workers.  

Worker fatalities by state/territory, 2025

Note: Fatalities are presented according to the state or territory where the fatality occurred, not the jurisdiction under which the fatality fell. 

In 2025, New South Wales recorded the highest number of fatalities (77 workers) followed by Queensland (45 workers). The Northern Territory recorded the highest fatality rate (2.7 fatalities per 100,000 workers), followed by Tasmania (2.5 fatalities per 100,000 workers). 

Data spotlight: Worker fatalities by remoteness

Safe Work Australia has analysed work-related traumatic injury fatality data and coronial data from the National Coronial Information System to better understand how fatalities vary across Australia’s remoteness areas, as categorised by the Australian Bureau of Statistics³. 

The analysis found a clear and consistent increase in fatality rates with each successive level of remoteness.  

Workers in Very Remote Australia were around 8 times more likely to die from a work-related traumatic injury than the average across Australia overall. 

Relative proxy fatality rates have a range of 0.3 fatalities per 100,000 workers in Major Cities to 8.3 fatalities per 100,000 workers in Very Remote Australia, demonstrating a strong relationship between remoteness and work-related fatality risk. 

Mechanism of incident

The mechanism of incident refers to the overall action, exposure or event that describes the circumstances that resulted in a worker fatality. 

Vehicle incidents (92 workers; 41%), Falls from a height (28 workers; 13%) and Being hit by falling objects (21 workers; 9%) accounted for almost two-thirds (64%) of all worker fatalities in 2025.  

Data spotlight: Falls from a height, falling objects and the construction industry 

While Vehicle incidents continue to be the leading cause of worker fatalities in 2025 (accounting for 41% of fatalities), there have been notable changes in other fatality mechanisms.  

Historically, Being hit by moving objects (such as cars and other vehicles) was the second most common mechanism of worker fatalities. However, Falls from a height has occupied that position for 3 consecutive years, accounting for 13% (28 fatalities) of worker fatalities in 2025, following 13% (24 fatalities) in 2024 and 15% (30 fatalities) in 2023. 

In 2025, Being hit by falling objects was the third most common mechanism of worker fatalities, accounting for 9% (21 fatalities), compared with 7% (13 fatalities) in 2024 and 6% (12 fatalities) in 2023. 

Both mechanisms are commonly associated with work undertaken in the Construction industry. 

The Construction industry recorded 41 worker fatalities in 2025, accounting for almost one in 5 worker fatalities nationally. This compares with 35 fatalities (18%) in 2024 and 46 fatalities (23%) in 2023. 

Construction activity has remained at high levels in recent years while labour shortages have continued across many construction trades5. These conditions have coincided with an increase in fatalities associated with falls from height and falling objects, highlighting the continuing importance of managing high-risk construction work. More information about working at heights is available on our website. 

Worker fatalities by occupation, 2025

Note: There was one worker fatality in 2025 where occupation was unknown.

In 2025, Machinery operators and drivers accounted for the largest proportion of worker fatalities (35%) and recorded the highest fatality rate at 8.7 fatalities per 100,000 workers. This was almost 6 times the overall fatality rate of 1.5 fatalities per 100,000 workers.  

Worker fatalities by industry, 2025

In 2025, almost two-thirds (63%) of worker fatalities occurred in 3 industries:  

• Transport, postal and warehousing (27%; 61 fatalities) 
• Construction (18%; 41 fatalities), and  
• Agriculture, forestry and fishing (17%; 38 fatalities).

Several industries also recorded fatality counts above their recent averages. The number of fatalities in the Administrative and support services industry in 2025 (10 fatalities) was 72% higher than the 5-year average for this industry (5.8 fatalities), and the number of fatalities in the Electricity, gas, water and waste services industry in 2025 (7 fatalities) was 35% higher than the 5-year average for this industry (5.2 fatalities). 

Work-related injury and illness

Safe Work Australia compiles national workers’ compensation statistics using data provided by workers’ compensation authorities in each state and territory, and by the Commonwealth government.

These data are collated into the National Data Set for Compensation-based Statistics (NDS), which is Safe Work Australia’s primary source of information on work-related injuries and diseases. See the NDS data catalogue page on the Safe Work Australia data website for more information.

The following insights provide a snapshot of key findings from the latest data on work-related injuries and illnesses in Australia. More detailed results are available through our interactive data dashboard. 

The latest data highlight the ongoing impact of work‑related injuries and illnesses across Australian workers. 

In 2024-25p, there were approximately 147,200 serious workers’ compensation claims. Compared with 10 years ago (2014-15), the number of serious claims has increased by 40,600 (38.1%). 

However, the serious claims frequency rate, which accounts for changes in the number of hours worked over time, shows a more subdued increase of 0.9 claims per million hours worked (14.9%). 

Demographics (sex)

The majority of serious claims were made by men (57.5% in 2024-25p). However, the share of serious claims accounted for by women has increased by 6.2 percentage points over the 10 years to 2024‑25p, reflecting continued growth in female workforce participation. 

Serious claims by sex, 2024-25p

When hours worked are taken into account, the serious claims frequency rate for men (6.9 claims per million hours worked) is 7.8% higher than the rate for women (6.4).

The Nature¹⁶ of work-related injury and illness differs significantly between men and women.

Mental health conditions accounted for a substantially higher proportion of serious claims among women (17.5%) than men (8.2%). 

By comparison, wounds, lacerations, amputations and internal organ damage represented a larger share of serious claims among men (17.6%) than women (10.4%). 

These differences are influenced by the occupations, industries and workplace hazards more commonly experienced by men and women. 

Demographics (age)

The 2024-25p NDS data show that the serious claims frequency rate, median time lost and median compensation paid generally increase with age. 

Taking into account the hours worked, the serious claim frequency rate was highest for workers aged 65 years and over (9.5 serious claims per million hours worked), followed by workers aged 55 to 64 years (9.2).  

The lowest serious claims frequency rate was among workers aged 35 to 44 years (5.7 serious claims per million hours worked).  

Overall, serious claims were 1.5 times more frequent for older workers (55 years and over) compared to the average observed across all other age cohorts. 

These findings are particularly important in the context of Australia’s ageing workforce.  

Over the 10 years to 2024-25p, the proportion of serious claims involving workers aged 55 to 64 years increased by 0.9 percentage points, while those aged 65 years and over increased by 2.4 percentage points.

Serious claims headline results by age group, 2024-25p

The relationship between age and serious claims also differs by sex.  

For workers aged up to 44 years, men recorded higher serious claim frequency rates than women. However, among workers aged 45 years and over, women recorded higher serious claim frequency rates.

Nature of injury or disease

In 2024-25p, Injuries accounted for two-thirds of serious workers’ compensation claims (66.6% or 98,000), with Diseases and conditions comprising the remaining third (33.4% or 49,100).   

Diseases and conditions account for an increasing proportion of serious claims, with their share growing from approximately one in 4 serious claims (26.1%) in 2014‑15, to one in 3 serious claims (33.4%) in 2024-25p.    

Serious claims were highly concentrated among a small number of injury and disease types. In 2024-25p, the 5 most common Nature of injury or disease (major groups) accounted for 90.0% of all serious claims (132,500), and two-thirds (67.5%) were concentrated in just 3 of these groups. 

The largest year-on-year decline in serious claims in 2024‑25p was observed for the Infectious and parasitic diseases Nature of injury major group, which declined by 47.2% (1,800 claims).  

This decrease was largely driven by the decline in serious claims related to COVID-19. 

Despite this fall, serious claims for Infectious and parasitic diseases remain substantially above pre-pandemic levels, increasing by 1,700 claims compared with 2014-15. 

More information about the impact of COVID-19 on the NDS time series can be found in the technical note, available in the Resources on the NDS data catalogue page on the Safe Work Australia data website. 

Serious claims headline results by Nature (major group), 2024-25p

Data spotlight: Mental health condition claims

Mental health conditions accounted for 12.2% (17,900) of all serious claims in 2024-25p. While the number of serious Mental health condition claims fell slightly over the year, decreasing by 580 claims (3.2%), they recorded the largest change of any Nature of injury major group over the decade to 2024-25p. Since 2014-15, serious claims for Mental health conditions have increased by 11,300 (169.4%), highlighting the growing impact of psychosocial hazards in Australian workplaces. 

17,900

serious claims (count)

12.2%

serious claims (%)

$68,600

median compensation paid ($)

34.8 weeks

median time lost

Mechanism of incident

A small number of incident mechanisms account for the majority of serious workers’ compensation claims.  

In 2024-25p, 85.1% of serious claims were concentrated in 4 of the 10 Mechanism of incident major groups¹⁹.  

Body stressing was the leading mechanism, accounting for 51,800 (35.2%) of all serious claims. It was also the leading Mechanism for serious claims for workers’ compensation across all 8 occupational major groups. 

Mental stress was the cause of 17,000 serious claims (11.5%) in 2024-25p. The most common types of Mental stress claims were:  

• Work-related harassment and/or workplace bullying (5,400 claims; 31.6%)  
• Work pressure (4,500 claims; 26.5%), and 
• Exposure to violence and harassment (3,000 claims, 17.7%). 

Together, these 3 mechanisms accounted for more than three-quarters of all Mental stress claims. 

Serious claims headline results by Mechanism (major group), 2024-25p

Bodily location of injury or disease

Serious claims by bodily location major groups, 2024-25p²⁰

Injuries affecting workers’ limbs accounted for more than half of all serious claims in 2024‑25p, including the upper limbs (48,900 claims; 33.2%) and lower limbs (33,400 claims; 22.7%).  

Industry

Serious claims were concentrated in a relatively small number of industries. 

In 2024-25p, the 4 Industry²¹ divisions with the largest number of serious claims accounted for 51.4% of all serious claims (75,600), despite representing only 36.4% of filled jobs covered by a workers’ compensation scheme. 

Accounting for hours worked, the Agriculture, forestry and fishing industry recorded the highest serious claims frequency rate at 9.6 claims per million hours worked in 2024-25p. This represents a frequency rate of serious claims 43.3% higher than the average rate across all industries (6.7). 

Serious claims headline results by Industry (division), 2024-25p

Occupation

Some jobs involve higher levels of exposure to hazards and potential harm. In 2024-25p, 62.1% of serious claims (or 90,700) were concentrated in just 3 of the 8 Occupation²² major groups.  

Notably, while these occupational groups recorded 62.1% of serious claims in 2024-25p, they represent only 32.5% of jobs covered by a workers’ compensation scheme.   

Information about the hazards workers are exposed to in different jobs, including the prevalence of exposure to different agents, where exposure is concentrated, and which work and workers are most likely to be exposed, can be found in the 2026 Australian Worker Exposure Survey analysis report. 

The Beta Occupational Hazards Dataset also contains summary information about different workplace hazards typically encountered in jobs across the labour market. 

Accounting for hours worked, the 2024-25p data show the highest frequency of serious claims was observed for Labourers, followed by Community and personal service workers, Machinery operators and drivers, and Technicians and trades workers. The 2026 Australian Worker Exposure Survey found that Technicians and trades workers, Machinery operators and drivers and Labourers had the highest proportion of workers with multiple hazard exposure.

Serious claims headline results by Occupation (major group), 2024-25p

References and endnotes

1. International Labour Organization (2022), ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up, available at https://www.ilo.org/resource/conference-paper/ilo-1998-declaration-fundamental-principles-and-rights-work-and-its-follow
2. NDS data for 2024-25 are preliminary (denoted by ‘p’) and subject to revision in future years as further claims are finalised.
3. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/standards/australian-statistical-geography-standard-asgs/latest-release
4. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/rural-remote-australians/rural-and-remote-health 
5. https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/data/occupation-shortage/occupation-shortage-list
6. Claims (count) – unless otherwise stated, all workers’ compensation data presented in this report are for ‘serious claims’. Serious claims are defined as accepted workers’ compensation claims that involve one or more weeks away from work, excluding fatalities and specific Duty statuses.
7. Incidence rate – claims per 1,000 jobs. The ‘incidence rate’ is defined as the number of claims per thousand filled jobs covered under workers’ compensation schemes.
8. Frequency rate – claims per million hours worked. The ‘Frequency rate’ is defined as the number of claims per million hours worked in filled jobs covered under workers’ compensation schemes. There are significant differences in the number of hours worked by different groups of employees, and employees at different points in time. The serious claims frequency rate accounts for these differences and allows more accurate comparisons to be made.
9. Median time lost (weeks) – median time lost is not reported for the preliminary data reference period because a high proportion of claims remain open. Data for the most recent non-preliminary reporting period (2023-24) is used for reporting purposes in such instances.
10. Median compensation paid ($) – the median compensation paid excludes claims where there was zero compensation paid. Median compensation paid is not reported for the preliminary data reference period because a high proportion of claims remain open. Data for the most recent non-preliminary reporting period (2023-24) is used for reporting purposes in such instances.
11. This paper uses unit record data from Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey conducted by the Australian Government Department of Social Services (DSS). The findings and views reported in this paper, however, are those of the author(s) and should not be attributed to the Australian Government, DSS, or any of DSS’ contractors or partners. DOI: 10.26193/6M1BMR.
12. Data are collected in discrete annual ‘waves’, with each wave corresponding to one year of survey collection.
13. HILDA data captures whether the respondent spent any time on workers’ compensation during the previous 12 months. This variable is collected from wave 5 onwards.
14. It is assumed that a workplace injury occurs prior to receipt of workers’ compensation between times t-2 and t-0. This assumption is necessary as there can be a delay between a work-related injury occurrence and the lodgement, processing and acceptance of a workers’ compensation claim. 
15. SF-36 General Health and Mental Health scores are derived from respondents’ self-assessments of their health and wellbeing using the Short Form-36 (SF-36) health questionnaire. Scores reflect individuals’ perceptions of their own health status and should not be interpreted as clinical diagnoses or independently verified measures of physical or mental health.
16. Nature refers to the most serious injury or disease sustained or suffered by the worker. See the Type of Occurrence Classifications System (TOOCS) dataset page on the Safe Work Australia data website for further information on the Nature coding structure.
17. https://www.racp.edu.au/docs/default-source/policy-and-adv/afoem/hbgw/helping-people-return-to-work-using-evidence-for-better-outcomes.pdf?sfvrsn=57ae3e1a_10”Helping people return to work: Using evidence for better outcomes - A Position Statement, The Royal Australasian College of Physicians and The Australian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2010, p 14.
18. The workers’ compensation-based return to work rate is calculated for a given reference point using a 12-month injury window, which is lagged by the corresponding return to work benchmark period. This allows claims that occurred within the window sufficient time to develop before reporting.
    The scope of the analysis is Total claims that occurred within the injury window which involved 3 hours or more time lost and did not result in fatality. This restriction narrows focus appropriately to claims that both involved a work separation and where return to work was possible. 
    Note: this measure is based on total compensated time lost only and should be used with caution.
19. Mechanism is the overall action, exposure or event that best describes the circumstances that resulted in the most serious injury or disease. See the Type of Occurrence Classifications System (TOOCS) dataset page on the Safe Work Australia data website for further information on the Mechanism coding structure.
20. Bodily location refers to the part of the body affected by the most serious injury or disease. See the Type of Occurrence Classifications System (TOOCS) dataset page on the Safe Work Australia data website for further information on the Bodily location coding structure.
21. Industry refers to the range of economic activities undertaken by a business to produce goods and services, and is categorised using the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC).
22. Occupation refers to the type of job undertaken by a worker in the labour market and is categorised using the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO).