This report highlights key trends in work-related fatalities, injuries and disease, and provides valuable insights to help improve safety outcomes in Australian workplaces. There are more than 400 serious claims a day across Australia. The challenges to overcome are significant with harm occurring in a concentration of certain industries. 

80% of work-related traumatic injury fatalities and 61% of serious workers’ compensation claims occurred in six industries:

• agriculture, forestry and fishing
• public administration and safety
• transport, postal and warehousing
• manufacturing
• health care and social assistance
• construction.  

Key findings

• Australia’s current work-related injury rate of 3.5% is roughly one-third of the global rate of 12.1%.
• 188 workers lost their lives due to traumatic injuries in 2024.
• There were 146,700 serious workers’ compensation claims involving at least one week of working time lost in 2023-24p*.
• Vehicle incidents continue to account for the largest proportion of fatal injuries (42%), followed by falls from a height (13%).  
• 84% of all serious claims involve body stressing, falls, slips and trips, being hit by moving objects or mental stress.
• Claims for mental health conditions continued to increase in 2023-24p, and now account for 12% of all serious claims. The median time lost from work in these claims is almost 5 times that recorded across all other injuries and diseases.  

*Data for 2023-24 denoted by ‘p’ are preliminary and subject to revision in future years as further claims are finalised.

An accompanying Interactive data website provides an overview of the data Safe Work Australia captures on selected industries and types of work in Australia.