The Mining and Construction Labour sector is one of the worst performers on Work Safe Queensland’s recently released ‘safety heat map’ that shows the relative harm by occupation and region for Queensland.
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. Mining and construction 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.
North Queensland, with the lowest proportion of finalised claims in Queensland, also represented the lowest harm of all regions. Mining and construction labourers, mobile plant operators, road and rail drivers, and automotive and engineering trades workers showed the most risk of harm.
Add Comment