Women in NSW 2012 - The Workplace Gender Equality Agency

1.3 Work-related injuries and diseasesCompensable injuries and disease – major claimsCurrent positionThe direction of changeover timeDiscussionNSW women have a lower frequency of compensable injuries and diseasesthan men (6.6 claims per million hours worked by women employees,compared to 8.9 claims per million hours worked by men).However, women have a higher rate of mental disorder claims, with afrequency of 0.7 per million hours worked by women employees comparedto 0.4 claims per million hours worked by men. Mental disorder claims madeup over one-quarter of all occupational disease claims in 2010.Gender gaps:• The pattern of work injuries demonstrates an overall gender gap inwomen’s favour of 2.3 claims per million hours worked.• Female employees had 0.3 per million hours more mental disorder claimsthan men in 2010 (1,545 in total).The frequency of work-related injuries has declined during the last decadefor both NSW women and men, with the decline greater for men from ahigher starting point. The total number of men’s claims went from 38,000to 27,600 in the period 2001 to 2010, while the total number of claims bywomen went from nearly 16,000 to nearly 14,000 in the same period.The trend in occupational disease claims is weaker and women’s lengthof time off work remains greater than men’s on average (see Table 2.1on page 18).The incidence of mental disorder claims peaked in the early 2000s,but remains higher in 2010 than in 2001 for both women and men.In 2004 the Productivity Commission estimated that the total economiccost of work-related injury and disease in Australia was in excess of$31 billion annually 13 , in addition to the significant non-economic costs borneby individuals, their families, businesses and the community as a whole.Women and men typically work in different industries and/or occupationsin NSW, each with their own health and safety risks. Women are underrepresentedin some hazardous industries with high injury and disease rates,such as mining and construction, but over-represented in industries such ashealth and education with high interpersonal demands (see Chapter Five).Work-related injuries and diseases include those that result from incidents at the place of work; while commutingto and from work; and illnesses contracted due to work, for example, industrial deafness, repetitive strain injuries,asthma and skin diseases.The data above refer to major claims where a workers’ compensation claim was accepted and where five or moredays time off work was paid through the NSW workers’ compensation system for incapacity arising from the injury ordisease. These claims amount to approximately 60 percent of annual lost time injuries in NSW.Year collected: 2009-10.Data source: WorkCover NSW, Statistical Bulletin, 2009-2010, unpublished at the time of writing.More information is available at www.workcover.nsw.gov.au13 Productivity Commission (2004) National workers’ compensation and occupational health and safety frameworks, Productivity Commission Inquiry Report no. 27, p xxii.WOMEN IN NSW 2012 | HEALTH AND WELLBEING17