Fatal shifts, busted backs and mental health: Victoria’s most dangerous jobs revealed
Farms and construction sites are the most deadly workplaces in the state, new WorkSafe data reveals. And thousands of workers lodged injury claims in the past year — see if your occupation makes the list.
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Construction sites and farms are Victoria’s deadliest workplaces.
WorkSafe data shows there were six deaths on farms in 2019 – including two infants aged two and three years old, who died in incidents involving machinery – and five deaths occurred on building sites.
Another 13 people were killed at work in Victoria last year including in factories and on work vehicles.
WorkSafe chief executive Colin Radford said out of respect for the dead and their families, “it is time we said ‘enough’. It is time to take strong and decisive action”.
“There is simply no excuse for cutting corners when it comes to workplace safety.”
Victoria’s healthcare and manufacturing industry workers are at most risk of getting hurt on the job, with back and shoulder problems, poor mental health and busted hands and fingers topping the injuries list.
WorkSafe figures reveal close to 30,000 claims were made to the agency in 2019, with more than 22,000 incidents occurring in the same year.
Claims from the healthcare and social assistance industry made up 15 per cent of the list (4300 claims) followed by manufacturing (4231) construction (3886) public administration and safety — including police officers and PSOs — (2267) transport, postal and warehousing (2092) and education and training (1776).
Road and rail transport jobs was the occupation with the higest claims on 1988, in front of close to 1400 carers and aides and 1050 miscellaneous intermediate service workers.
More than 770 teachers, 760 police officers, 580 cleaners and 420 plumbers made WorkSafe claims.
There were 17,719 claims made by men and 10,143 made by women, with 55-59 year-olds and 50-54 year-olds the most hard-hit respectively.
WorkSafe says muscular stress when handling objects led to more than 4800 claims, followed by being hit by moving object (4415) mental stress (3807) falls on the same level (2919) and muscular stress when lifting (2770).
There were more than 450 claims made as a result of injury inflicted by cutting, slicing and sawing machinery, almost 1500 from fastening, packing and packaging equipment and more than 470 incidents involving live animals.
The shock fatalities last year included a 68-year-old man who plummeted six metres while cleaning a refrigeration unit in Mordialloc in February, a 28-year-old man who was buried alive in soil at the base of a dry dam in East Gippsland in April, a 22-year-old female jockey who fell off a horse at Cranbourne in August, a 73-year-old who was crushed when he became jammed between his car and an automatic car wash at Springvale in November and a 50-year-old garbage man who was thrown from his truck when it was hit by a crane at Epping in December.
The data shows 15 deaths occurred in regional Victoria, including six in Gippsland and nine in metropolitan Melbourne.
The youngest fatality was a two-year-old who died when he was crushed by a spreader attachment that fell on him inside a shed.
“These are not numbers, these are people – fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, siblings, colleagues, teammates and community members,” Mr Radford said.
Mr Radford said nine of the fatalities involved some form of moving machinery or heavy vehicles, which were the most dangerous hazards in Victorian workplaces.
“The risks associated with moving machinery such as tractors, headers, trucks, mobile cranes and scissor lifts are well known so there is simply no excuse for ignoring them,” Mr Radford said.
“All employers must take time to properly assess workplace health and safety risks and plan how to eliminate or manage them, because failing to do so can be fatal.”
“From July, new workplace manslaughter laws will come into force. So employers are on notice to take their health and safety obligations seriously or risk jail if your negligence causes a workers death.”
“If you show a reckless indifference to human life, you will face the full force of these new laws.”
TOP FIVE MOST DANGEROUS INDUSTRIES
Health Care and Social Assistance - 4332 claims
Manufacturing - 4231
Construction - 3886
Public Administration and Safety - 2267
Transport, Postal and Warehousing - 2092
TOP FIVE MOST DANGEROUS OCCUPATIONS
Road & rail transport drivers - 1198
Carers & aides - 1398
Miscellaneous intermediate service workers - 1047
Miscellaneous tradespersons - 1029
Structural construction tradespersons - 988