8C.001 Towards decent, safe work: learnings from work-related fatal injury in New Zealand

IntroductionAnalyses of secular trends in work-related fatal injury in New Zealand have previously only considered the total working population, potentially hiding trends for important subgroups of workers. This paper examines trends in work-related fatalities in worker subgroups between 2005 and 2014 to indicate where workplace safety action should be prioritised.MethodsA dataset of fatally injured workers was created; all persons aged 15–84 years, fatally injured in the period 2005–2014, were identified from mortality records, linked to coronial records which were then reviewed for work relatedness. Poisson regression modelling was used to estimate annual percentage change in rates by age, sex, ethnicity, employment status, industry and occupation.ResultsOverall, worker fatalities decreased by 2.4% (95% CI 0.0% to 4.6%) annually; an average reduction of 18 deaths per year from baseline (2005). Significant declines in annual rates were observed for younger workers (15–29 and 30–49 years), indigenous Māori, those in the public administration and service sector, and those in community and personal service occupations. Increases in annual rates occurred for workers in agriculture and forestry and fisheries sectors and for labourers. Rates of worker deaths in work-traffic settings declined faster than in workplace settings.DiscussionAlthough overall age-standardised rates of work-related fatal injury have been declining, these trends were variable. Sources of injury risk in identifiable subgroups with increases in annual rates need to be urgently addressed. This study demonstrates the need for regular, detailed examination of the secular trends to identify those subgroups of workers requiring further workplace safety attention.

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Decade of fatal injuries in workers in New Zealand: insights from a comprehensive national observational study

Injury Prevention ◽

10.1136/injuryprev-2020-043643 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. injuryprev-2020-043643

Author(s):

Rebbecca Lilley ◽

Brett Maclennan ◽

Bronwen M McNoe ◽

Gabrielle Davie ◽

Simon Horsburgh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Observational Study ◽

Incomplete Data ◽

Data Capture ◽

Time Of Death ◽

Data Set ◽

Fatal Injury ◽

Work Related ◽

Preventive Actions ◽

Environmental Agents

IntroductionCurrent priorities and strategies to prevent work-related fatal injury (WRFI) in New Zealand (NZ) are based on incomplete data capture. This paper provides an overview of key results from a comprehensive 10-year NZ study of worker fatalities using coronial records.MethodsA data set of workers, aged 15–84 years at the time of death who died in the period 2005–2014, was created using coronial records. Data collection involved: (1) identifying possible cases from mortality records using selected external cause of injury codes; (2) linking these to coronial records; (3) retrieving and reviewing records for work-relatedness; and (4) coding work-related cases. Frequencies, percentages and rates were calculated. Analyses were stratified into workplace and work-traffic settings.ResultsOver the decade, 955 workers were fatally injured, giving a rate of 4.8 (95% CI 5.6 to 6.3) per 100 000 worker-years. High rates of worker fatalities were observed for workers aged 70–84 years, indigenous Māori and for males. Workers employed in mining had the highest rate in workplace settings while transport, postal and warehousing employees had the highest rate in work-traffic settings. Vehicle-related mechanisms dominated the mechanism and vehicles and environmental agents dominated the breakdown agencies contributing to worker fatalities.DiscussionThis study shows the rates of worker fatalities vary widely by age, sex, ethnicity, occupation and industry and are a very serious problem for particular groups. Future efforts to address NZ’s high rates of WRFI should use these findings to aid understanding where preventive actions should be prioritised.

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O2B.3 Work related stress for new zealand workers in high risk sectors: what can we learn from a demographic analysis?

Occupational and Environmental Medicine ◽

10.1136/oem-2019-epi.39 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 76 (Suppl 1) ◽

pp. A15.1-A15

Author(s):

Kirsten Lovelock ◽

Trang Khieu

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

High Risk ◽

Work Performance ◽

Health Behaviours ◽

Psychosocial Health ◽

Work Related Stress ◽

Safety Attitudes ◽

Work Related ◽

High Staff Turnover ◽

Related Stress

The physical and psychological outcomes of work related stress place a burden on individuals, their families, workplaces and communities. Work related stress is a health and socio-economic and political problem. It reduces work performance; drives higher rates of absenteeism or sick leave; can increase rates of injury; prompt high staff turnover; and, can prompt poor health behaviours such as excessive drinking or taking of drugs. The research record focussing on work related stress in New Zealand (NZ) is small and uneven, but growing. The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of work-related stress among workers by a set of demographic characteristics. The study used data from the Health and Safety Attitudes and Behaviour Survey (HSABS) 2016. A total of 2190 workers in the four high risk industries (agriculture, forestry, construction and manufacturing) were interviewed about their perceptions towards work-related stress. Weighting was conducted to control inherent biases. Differences between workers were examined by age, sex, ethnicity, qualifications and migrant factors (e.g. being born in NZ or arriving in NZ within five years). Overall, 11% of workers responded that they had experienced with work-related stress in the last 12 months. Work-related stress was more statistically prevalent among people from 25 to 34 years of age or those having a bachelor’s degree. Also, people being females or Maori or not born in NZ or first arrived in NZ in the last five years were more likely to have work-related stress. Findings from the study could allow better targeted and informed psychosocial health interventions to be implemented at workplace.

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The Impact of Organisational, Social Environmental and Job Content Stressors on the Work Related Strains of Probation Officers

Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology ◽

10.1177/000486580103400207 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

pp. 193-203 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Clare O'donnell ◽

Christine Stephens

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Workplace Stress ◽

Probation Officers ◽

Curvilinear Relationship ◽

Work Stressors ◽

Work Related ◽

Job Content ◽

The Impact ◽

The Relationship

In recent years workplace stress has been seen as an important occupational health and safety problem and probation officers in New Zealand have been identified as suffering from increasing perceptions of stress. Accordingly, the present study was undertaken with a sample of 50 New Zealand Probation Officers in three offices to examine the relationship of individual, organisational and work stressors with work related strains. It was predicted that work stressors would be positively related to strains and that individual differences (e.g., age or gender) would have a moderating effect on the relationship between stressors and strains. The results showed that stressors caused by organisational problems, such as role boundary and overload, were related to strains, more strongly than job content problems, such as difficult clients. Secondly, age may have a curvilinear relationship to strains. Thirdly, the office, or place of work, moderates the stressor strain relationship.

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Using Coronial Records to Provide Novel In-Depth Insights into Work-Related Fatal Injury

International Journal for Population Data Science ◽

10.23889/ijpds.v5i5.1604 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (5) ◽

Author(s):

Rebbecca Lilley ◽

Gabrielle Davie ◽

Bronwen McNoe ◽

Tim Driscoll

Keyword(s):

Occupational Safety ◽

Poor Performance ◽

Population Data ◽

Traffic Fatalities ◽

Fatal Injury ◽

Work Activities ◽

Work Related ◽

Additional Group ◽

Data Collections ◽

Official Data

IntroductionNew Zealand’s (NZ) workplace fatality record is very poor compared to similar OECD countries. The reasons for NZ’s poor performance are highly debated yet inadequately informed due to a lack of high quality fatality data. Due to incomplete official data on work fatalities in NZ, it is not currently possible to use routine official data collections to reliably report: i) who is fatally injured due to work activities, and ii) what groups should be prioritised for action. Objectives and ApproachThis study uses coronial records to overcome the limitations of existing official data collections to provide the most complete and detailed evidence platform for occupational safety policy and action in NZ. A work-related fatal injury dataset spanning the period 2005-2014 was created by: 1) identifying possible cases aged 0-84 years from the Mortality Collection using selected external cause of injury codes, 2) linking these to Coronial records and 3) identifying and coding work-related cases. ResultsOf 7,730 injury fatalities with corresponding Coronial records retrieved and reviewed, 1,924 (24%) were work-related, of which 955 were workers. Fifty-nine per cent more worker deaths were identified compared to available official NZ Government estimates from notification and compensation data. Workers killed on public roads were the main additional group identified. Official data do not provide occupation-based fatality rates; our study found ‘Miners and drillers’, ‘deckhands and fishermen’ and ‘loggers’ had the highest rates of fatal injury. Conclusion / ImplicationsCoronial records offer a rich source of population data on work-related fatal injury deaths, providing better estimates of work-traffic fatalities and high risk occupations than are otherwise available as well as evidence for establishing prevention strategies in NZ.

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