Occupations heat maps

Results

Harm index analysis for on-duty at place of work claims revealed the major occupation groups with the highest index level were:

• Machinery operators and drivers
• Labourers
• Technicians and trades workers
• Community and personal services workers.

These four occupation groups represent half of the eight categories, yet their claim numbers account for 79 per cent of all in scope claims. It is a similar result for statutory payments, with these four occupation groups accounting for 81 per cent of the total. Further, the first three groups were responsible for nearly two thirds of all claims and statutory payments.

Despite this, not all occupation groups were deemed high harm overall (table 1). Only the Labourers and Machinery operators and drivers’ occupation groups were high harm in 2021. This is generally because there are fewer high harm occupations in the Technicians and trades workers and Community and personal services workers groups (table 2).

Table 1: Occupation groups with high harm occupations, 2021

¹ Calculated using ANZSCO 3-digit results.

² There are rounding errors in this table.

Overall there were 15 occupations that were deemed high risk in 2021, (Table 2), having a harm index that is at least twice that for all occupations. Workers in these occupations experienced the greatest harm in 2021. (Detailed results in Appendix 1.)

Table 2: High harm occupations, 2021

The top seven improvements in harm index over the five-year period to 2021, are outlined in Table 3.

Improvements refer to relative improvements over time, so theoretically if all occupations except one were worse in 2021, the exception would show an improvement even if numbers of claims and statutory payments remained the same. Occupations which were deemed either medium or high harm and had at least 500 claims in 2021 were included in the analysis.

All improvements in Table 3 belong to the top four high harm occupation groups.

Five of the seven occupations in Table 3 were deemed high harm in 2016. Claim numbers for this group of seven occupations accounted for 21 per cent of all claims in 2021.

Table 3: Top seven improvements in harm index, 2021

The ten worst performers over the period are revealed in Table 4. Performance is relative over time, so similarly, if all occupations except one improved in 2021, the exception would show worse results even if their numbers of claims and statutory payments remained the same. Occupations which were deemed either medium or high harm with at least 500 claims in 2021 were included in the analysis.

All occupations in Table 4 belong to the top four high harm occupation groups. The only occupations in the table that were not deemed high harm in 2021, (and do not appear in Table 2), were Machine operators and Automotive electricians and mechanics. In 2021 the Harm Indices for both occupations were deemed medium harm again with 1.51 and 1.48 times the all occupation average harm index respectively.

Claim numbers for this group of ten occupations in Table 4 accounted for more than a fifth of all claims in 2021, at 23 per cent.

Table 4: Top ten deteriorations in harm index, 2021

Miscellaneous labourers was the riskiest occupation overall in both 2016 and 2021, with the numbers of claims declining significantly over time , contrary to relative risk. Caution must be exercised when analysing these results due to possible effects of the pandemic on claims. Miscellaneous labourers also had the most claims of any, (3,697 or 7 per cent of all claims in 2021), and nearly thirty per cent more claims than the next highest occupation, (Personal carers and assistants with 2,871).

Miscellaneous factory process workers, Construction and mining labourers, Food process workers, and Farm forestry and garden workers, also experienced an increase in the harm index, however their claim numbers decreased, except for Farm forestry and garden workers. This could be due to more severe injuries on average or a relatively slower improvement in risk.

Despite being deemed a high-risk occupation, there was improvement in the relative harm of Miscellaneous labourers. There was a decrease in both the index, (from 13.19 times the all occupation average to 5.33 times), and the numbers of claims, which dropped by nearly 60 per cent over the five years to 2021, (from 9,295 to 3,697).

Machinery operators and drivers
The Machinery operators and drivers group recorded the highest average index value of 252 (or 2.52 times the all occupation average), while also being responsible for many claims (8,200 or 14 per cent of total).

There were two occupations within the group that were deemed high harm in 2021 (Table 5). Accordingly, the Heat Map revealed that the Machinery operators and drivers group had almost a third of the group shaded red (29 per cent or two of the seven occupations).

Both occupations worsened over the five-year period to 2021, despite similar numbers of claims. This could be due to more severe injuries on average or a relatively slower rate of improvement or a combination of both these factors.

Table 5: Machinery operators and drivers deemed high harm in 2021

Labourers
Labourers recorded the second highest average index value of 232 (or 2.32 times the all occupation average), while also holding the largest number of claims, (25 per cent of all claims).

More than half (56 per cent) of the Labourer occupation group were classified as high-risk occupations. These five occupations are listed in Table 6.

Table 6: Labourer occupations deemed high harm in 2021

Technicians and trades workers

The Heat Map revealed that on average, the Technicians and trades workers group demonstrated a medium harm index level at 1.74 times the all occupation average. Despite this moderate result, six occupations within this group were deemed high harm (Table 7) and their harm indices have worsened over time, except for Glaziers, plasterers and tilers.

Two high harm occupations were largely responsible for driving up the average; Bricklayers, and carpenters and joiners, (with a harm index of 477 or 4.77 times the all occupation average), and Fabrication engineering trades workers (298). The worst three, including Glaziers, plasterers and tilers (289), have all remained high risk over time.

Conversely, the Plumbers occupation was the only one of the six high harm occupations in 2021 that was deemed medium harm in 2016. Only two of the six high harm occupations experienced an increase in claims over the five years to 2021; Bricklayers, and carpenters and joiners (<1 per cent), and Miscellaneous technicians and trades workers (6 per cent).

Table 7: Technicians and trades workers occupations deemed high harm in 2021

The six high harm occupations in Table 7 make up 29 per cent or six of 21 occupations in the Technicians and trades workers group.

Community and personal services workers

The harm index for the Community and personal services workers group was 117 or approximately average for all occupations. There were only two out of nine occupations in this group that was deemed high harm; Defence force members, fire fighters and police, and Prison and security officers (Table 8). This is not a surprising result given the nature of firefighting, police, prison and security work⁴.

Other personnel that are exposed to dangerous work, such as paramedics, are in occupation categories that were assessed as medium risk of harm. For example; Health and welfare support workers have a harm index of 160.

The harm index and numbers of claims for fire fighters and police increased by 89 points and 35 per cent respectively, over the five years to 2021. This result can only partially be explained by the introduction of deemed diseases legislation, which meant that prescribed occupational cancer claims by firefighters were automatically accepted from 2015⁵.

⁴ Defence workers are covered by Comcare and therefore not in scope of this analysis.

⁵ There were approximately 14 additional deemed diseases claims on average in the 2016 results.

Table 8: Community and personal services workers at high risk of harm in 2021

Other occupations
The occupations in the table below are noteworthy despite not being categorised as high harm. This is based on significant index values and numbers of claims: The four occupations in Table 9 make up nearly ten per cent of all claims and have a higher harm index than average.

The Cleaners and laundry workers occupation worsened in both numbers and severity of claims over the five years to 2021. Mechanical engineering trades workers and Automotive electricians and mechanics had fewer claims in 2021, however the relative risk of severity of harm in these two occupations was higher than in 2016. The Cleaners and laundry workers occupation had a three per cent increase in claim numbers over time, and its harm index in 2021 worsened by 17 index points.

Table 9: Other noteworthy results in 2021

Serious on-duty at place of work claims (5 or more days off work)

The Heat Map produced for serious claims (Appendix 2) revealed that high risk occupations were very similar to all finalised claims.

Likewise, the four occupation groups identified in Table 1 were of the highest harm, largely due to a high proportion of occupations in these groups deemed high risk in 2021 (35 per cent). Examples include; Miscellaneous factory process workers (488 harm index), Miscellaneous labourers (480 harm index), Construction and mining labourers (400), and Truck drivers (388). These four occupations also had large numbers of claims in 2021.

All occupations identified as high harm in Table 2, were also assessed as being high harm when analysis was restricted to serious claims. Harm indices and numbers of claims however were different for serious claims, as expected, and are summarised in Table 10.

Mobile plant operators was deemed high risk when analysing serious claims. (The harm index for this occupation was 207 or more than twice that of all occupations in 2021.)

Table 10: High harm occupations, serious claims 2021

It is interesting to note that, while serious claims represent 47 per cent of all finalised on-duty at place of work claims for all occupations, this percentage was lowest at 40 per cent when restricted to Managers’ claims only. The highest conversion rates of claims were 53 per cent for Community and personal services workers. Labourers’ and Machinery operators and drivers’ proportion of serious claims was also relatively high at 49 per cent.

On-duty road traffic incidents

A version of the Heat Map was created to investigate injuries caused by on-duty road traffic incidents (Appendix 3). These types of claims averaged only 789 in total, (or approximately one per cent of all claims), over the 2021 Census period so the results must be treated with caution. The occupations with the highest risk are outlined below.

Table 11: High harm occupations, road traffic claims 2021

Results for on-duty road traffic incidents in Table 11 exclude all those occupations where there were 25 or fewer claims. Many high-risk occupations are in the Machinery operators and drivers group, as expected.

Truck drivers and Miscellaneous labourers’ results improved over the five years to 2021, where both harm indices and claim numbers decreased. Delivery drivers had mixed results, while Automobile, bus and rail drivers, and fire fighters and police had a deterioration in both claim numbers and index levels over time.

Sources: Queensland Employee Injury Database (QEIDB) (data extracted January 2023) and ABS, Censuses 2021 and 2016.

Appendix 1

Heat map – Finalised claims (excluding on-duty road traffic and commuting claims).

Appendix 2

Heat map: Serious claims, excluding road traffic incidents

Appendix 3

Heat map: On-duty road traffic incidents only