Work-related injuries

Safe Work Australia is proud to announce the beta release of our new data website, data.safeworkaustralia.gov.au.

The new website delivers national work health and safety and workers’ compensation data in an intuitive, user-friendly way.

Please visit the website and fill out the short online questionnaire. Feedback can also be emailed to statsonline@swa.gov.au.

A work-related injury is one that happened at or because of work.

Types of work-related injuries

There are many types of work-related injuries, including:

  • musculoskeletal disorders
  • wounds and cuts
  • burns
  • fractures
  • psychological injuries.

In 2019-20:

  • 88% of serious claims were for injuries and musculoskeletal disorders
  • 40% of these claims were joint, ligament, muscle and tendon injuries.

The economic impact of work-related injuries and illnesses

We commissioned Deloitte Access Economics to explore the cost of workplace injury and illness in Australia. Using an innovative modelling approach, the study demonstrates how much value could be created within the Australian economy by removing work-related injury and illness. 

Read Safer, healthier, wealthier: The economic value of reducing work-related injuries and illnesses.

Analysis of ABS work-related injuries survey data 2021-22

Safe Work Australia has published a new report on work-related injuries. The report compares survey data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics with SWA’s National dataset for compensation-based statistics and findings from our Safer, healthier, wealthier research.

Read Analysis of ABS work-related injuries survey data 2021-22.

More information

Data on work-related injuries are in the:

Request data

If you would like to request data visit our Request data page.