Occupational injuries: an exploratory analysis of successful Australian strategies.

Abstract

An examination of occupational injuries in Australia during the 1960's is made. It is shown that the incidence of occupational injuries decreased by about 12% during the decade and that occupational injuries now approximate 200,000 per annum. Although there are approximately six injuries to men for every one to women,types and sites of occupational injury do not differ between the sexes. Occupational injuries occur most frequently on Mondays, and the incidence decreases sequentially during the week. The age distribution for serious injuries (incurring an absence from work of more than 28 days) differs markedly from the equivalent distributions for minor occupational and all road injuries in that the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth decades of life each contribute about 20% of this total. The customary heavy over-representation of young males is notably absent. "Passive" countermeasures (those that are behaviour-independent) are held to have been differentially more successful than those that are "active" (those that require active cooperation). Examples are given.