The Australian transport and logistics industry is a diverse industry encompassing drivers, logistics, storage and warehousing workers, managers and executives. Transport workers are subject to a unique set of health risks in their working environment, including sedentary jobs, long working hours and shift work, isolation, fatigue and sleep deprivation among others.

The Transport Industry Health and Wellbeing Study is a national, multi-year research project being conducted by Monash University. This report, the first in a series from the study, presents findings from analysis of national workers’ compensation claims data, in order to:

1. Describe the nature, extent and impact of work-related injury and disease in Australian transport and logistics workers.

2. Determine if the incidence and impact of work-related injury and disease in these workers is changing over time.

3. Compare work-related injury and disease in transport workers to other workers in Australia.

Of the 3.5 million total accepted workers’ compensation claims in Australia during the period 2004 to 2015, a total of 249 thousand claims (or 7.2%) were from people employed in the 'Transport, postal and warehousing' industry. Truck drivers accounted for over 120 thousand claims, including nearly 60 thousand from drivers employed in industries other than transport. Delivery drivers, bus drivers and rail drivers were other substantial occupational groups, in addition to workers in non-driving occupations (total 151 thousand claims).

The rate of claims was up to five times higher in transport worker groups than in other workers. Rail drivers recorded a rate of 99 claims for every 1000 workers per year, followed by truck drivers at 70.3 per 1000 workers per year. This compares to a rate of 21.2 for all other workers.

Musculoskeletal conditions were the most common condition in all of the transport worker groups. Delivery drivers and bus drivers had the highest proportion of musculoskeletal condition claims. Truck drivers have the highest relative risk of fracture, with an incidence about 380% higher than all other workers. Rail drivers were at a 33 fold greater risk of making a workers compensation claim for a mental health condition than other workers.

Vehicle incidents accounted for between 6% and 23% of claims depending on occupation. More common mechanisms of injury and illness were musculoskeletal stress (body stressing), falls and trips, and being hit by objects.

There was wide variation in duration of time loss to injury and illness between occupation categories. The longest duration was in automobile drivers at 24 working days per claim, followed by truck drivers at 17 working days, and then delivery drivers. The occupation with the shortest duration of time lost was rail drivers at 6 working days.

These data demonstrate that workers in the transport sector are at increased risk of work-related injury and disease than workers in other occupations. Some groups of transport workers have substantially longer periods of time off work after injury than workers in other occupations. The findings provide insights that can support injury and illness prevention and rehabilitation and return to work programs in the industry. For example, targeting prevention programs to groups at greatest risk (e.g., rail drivers) or large cohorts at high risk (e.g., truck drivers) may have the greatest potential impact on health and productivity across the industry. Similarly, designing prevention programs to address the mechanisms of injury and illness accounting for the greatest proportion of work-related injury and disease (e.g., body stressing, falls and trips) may deliver a larger improvement than focussing on less common mechanisms.

This study provides an initial overview of work-related injury and illness in Australian transport sector workers over a twelve year time frame, at a population level. Future reports from the Transport Industry Health and Wellbeing Study will focus in more detail on specific occupational groups and on specific health risk factors, and will include data from health and survey datasets. Our objective is to build an evidence base that can support the development of programs to improve the health of Australia’s transport workforce.