Statistics New Zealand says men, young people and the elderly are most affected by workplace accidents.
In 2014, men generated 71 percent of all workplace injury claims to the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) and made up 96 percent of deaths at work. Men also had most claims for fatal work-related injuries, with 96 percent of fatal claims.
The agency said a high number of injury claims also came from workers aged 15 to 24, and workers aged 65 years and over had the highest claim rates
in proportion to the amount of the workforce they make up.
However, the over 65s had the lowest number of claims overall.
Provisional data shows that 226,100 claims were made to ACC in 2014 for a work-related injury. Of those claims, 28,100 were serious "entitlement"
claims.
The forestry industry had the highest proportion of serious claims, with 20 percent of all claims involving entitlement payments.
Agriculture, including forestry and fishery workers, had the highest rate of injury by occupation, with just under one-quarter of agriculture and fishery workers making a work-related claim in 2014 - the highest incidence by occupation.
The overall rate of injury claims was 111 claims for every 1000 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs).
Of the four major ethnic groups, Pacific people had a higher claim rate (106 claims per 1,000 FTEs) than Māori (97), European (89), and Asian (57) workers.
Trends from final data for 2002-13 show that:
- The number of claims has been steadily decreasing since 2005, but increased slightly between 2012 and 2013 - the first increase in eight years.
- The incidence rate has fallen each year since 2002 (from 158 claims per 1000 in 2002 to 111 in 2013). However, this trend has slowed since 2011.
- Since 2002, the incidence rate has been higher for the self-employed than for employees. In 2013, the incidence was 163 claims per 1000 for self-employed people, compared with 106 claims for employees.
- Agriculture and fishery workers have consistently had the highest claim rate since 2008.
Statistics New Zealand said claims submitted by accredited employers were included for the first time, which led to an increase in the number and rate of claims. Accredited employers are those who have agreed to act on behalf of ACC for their employee's work-related injuries, in return for lower levies.
Excluding accredited employer claims, there would have been 191,100 claims and an incidence rate of 94 work-related injury claims per 1000 full-time equivalent employees.
