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The national picture at a glance
Safe Work Australia released its latest Key Work Health and Safety Statistics in October 2025, during National Safe Work Month. The report brings together national data on worker deaths and serious workers compensation claims, and the figures below come from that edition.
- 188 workers died from traumatic injuries at work in 2024
- 146,700 serious workers compensation claims in 2023-24
- 1.3 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2024
- $16,300 median compensation paid on a serious claim
Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025. Median compensation is for 2022-23, the most recent finalised year.
Over the past decade the fatality rate has fallen 24%, from 1.7 to 1.3 deaths per 100,000 workers. That reduction has largely plateaued in recent years, which suggests the controls that drove earlier gains are no longer enough on their own to reduce harm further.
Serious claims tell a different story. There are 37,600 more serious claims each year than a decade ago, an increase of 34.5%. After allowing for growth in the hours Australians work, the frequency rate has risen 12.6% over the same period, to 6.8 serious claims per million hours worked.
Note: A serious claim is a workers compensation claim involving at least one working week off work. The 2023-24 claims data is preliminary and will be revised as claims are finalised, so time lost and compensation figures in this article come from 2022-23, the most recent finalised year.
Fatalities by state and territory
Chart: Worker fatalities by state or territory, 2024
- Queensland: 53
- New South Wales: 48
- Western Australia: 31
- Victoria: 28
- South Australia: 17
- Northern Territory: 4
- Tasmania: 4
- Australian Capital Territory: 3
Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025, worker fatalities by state and territory.
Queensland recorded the most worker deaths in 2024, followed by New South Wales. Raw counts largely reflect the size of each workforce, so the rate per 100,000 workers is the better measure of relative risk.
Chart: Fatality rate per 100,000 workers by state or territory, 2024
- Northern Territory: 2.8
- Western Australia: 1.9
- Queensland: 1.8
- South Australia: 1.8
- Tasmania: 1.4
- New South Wales: 1.1
- Australian Capital Territory: 1.1
- Victoria: 0.7
Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025, worker fatalities by state and territory.
On that measure the Northern Territory had the highest fatality rate, followed by Western Australia.
Info: Fatalities are counted in the state or territory where the death occurred, which is not always the jurisdiction whose WHS laws applied to the work.
The industries and jobs carrying the most risk
Chart: Fatality rate per 100,000 workers by industry, 2024
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 13.7
- Transport, postal and warehousing: 7.4
- Mining: 3.4
- Construction: 2.8
- Electricity, gas, water and waste services: 2.5
- All industries: 1.3
Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025, worker fatalities by industry.
Transport, postal and warehousing recorded the most deaths in 2024 with 54, ahead of agriculture, forestry and fishing with 44 and construction with 37. Agriculture's fatality rate is more than ten times the national rate.
Two industries moved noticeably away from their five-year averages. Mining recorded 10 deaths, 39% above its average, while manufacturing recorded 7, which is 44% below its average.
By occupation, machinery operators and drivers accounted for nearly a third of deaths (61), with a fatality rate of 6.7 per 100,000 workers, more than five times the national rate. Labourers followed with 50 deaths and a rate of 4.0.
How fatal incidents occurred
Chart: Worker fatalities by mechanism of incident, 2024
- Vehicle incident: 42%
- Falls from a height: 13%
- Being hit by moving objects: 9%
- All other mechanisms (calculated): 36%
Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025, worker fatalities by mechanism of incident. The "all other mechanisms" share is Actevate's calculation.
Vehicles remain the single largest factor in fatal incidents at work. At least one vehicle was directly involved in 124 of the 188 deaths, and half of those involved a truck. Most of them (89) were single vehicle incidents rather than collisions between vehicles.
Tip: In this data a vehicle includes far more than cars and trucks. Tractors, loaders, quad bikes, boats and aircraft are all counted, so any workplace with mobile plant is part of this picture.
Age and sex
Chart: Fatality rate per 100,000 workers by age group, 2024
- Under 25: 0.5
- 25 to 34: 1.6
- 35 to 44: 0.7
- 45 to 54: 0.9
- 55 to 64: 1.9
- 65 and over: 4.3
Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025, worker fatalities by age group.
Workers aged 65 and over had a fatality rate more than three times the national figure, and workers aged 45 and over accounted for 52% of all deaths. Men accounted for 96% of worker deaths in 2024, with a fatality rate of 2.4 per 100,000 compared with 0.1 for women.
Where serious injuries and illnesses happen
Chart: Serious claims by industry, 2023-24
- Health care and social assistance: 29,100
- Construction: 17,600
- Manufacturing: 14,800
- Public administration and safety: 13,600
- Education and training: 11,100
- Transport, postal and warehousing: 10,400
Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025, serious claims by industry (preliminary 2023-24 data).
Health care and social assistance lodged almost one in five serious claims. The four largest industries together accounted for 51.2% of serious claims while making up 36.3% of the jobs covered by workers compensation.
Once hours worked are taken into account, agriculture, forestry and fishing has the highest frequency rate at 10.0 serious claims per million hours, followed by public administration and safety (9.6), manufacturing (9.4), health care and social assistance (9.4), construction (9.3) and transport (9.0). Every one of those is well above the all-industry average of 6.8.
What causes serious claims
Chart: Serious claims by mechanism of incident, 2023-24
- Body stressing: 34.5%
- Falls, trips and slips: 21.8%
- Being hit by moving objects: 16.0%
- Mental stress: 11.5%
- All other mechanisms (calculated): 16.2%
Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025, serious claims by mechanism of incident. The "all other mechanisms" share is Actevate's calculation.
Body stressing, which includes injuries from lifting, carrying and repetitive movement, is the most common cause of serious claims in every occupation group. Most falls happen on the same level, with falls from a height making up about a quarter of them.
Long claims drive the cost
Claims with more than 13 weeks off work made up 21.9% of all accepted claims in 2022-23, yet they accounted for 74.8% of compensation paid, or $5.4 billion. The median time lost across serious claims has also grown 35.1% in the decade to 2022-23.
Note: Claims data only shows part of the picture. The ABS work-related injuries survey found that just 30.5% of people injured at work received workers compensation, most often because the injury was seen as too minor to claim.
Mental health claims keep rising
- 17,600 serious claims for mental health conditions in 2023-24
- 161% increase over the past ten years
- 35.7 weeks median time lost
- $67,400 median compensation paid
Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025, mental health conditions claims. Time lost and compensation are for 2022-23.
Mental health conditions now account for 12% of all serious claims. Claims rose by 2,300 in a single year, an increase of 14.7%, and no other type of injury or disease has grown as much over the past decade.
Chart: Median weeks off work by type of injury or disease, 2022-23
- Mental health conditions: 35.7 weeks
- Musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases: 12.9 weeks
- Fractures: 10.0 weeks
- Traumatic joint, ligament and muscle injury: 7.4 weeks
- Wounds, lacerations and internal organ damage: 3.6 weeks
Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025, serious claims by nature of injury or disease.
A mental health claim typically keeps someone away from work almost five times longer than the median serious claim, and costs more than four times as much in compensation.
Chart: Most common causes of mental stress claims, 2023-24
- Harassment or workplace bullying: 33.2%
- Work pressure: 24.2%
- Exposure to violence and harassment: 15.7%
Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025, mental stress serious claims.
Each of those causes is a recognised psychosocial hazard that employers are required to identify and control. Women are more affected, with mental health conditions making up 17.2% of serious claims by women compared with 8.2% for men.
Info: Diseases and conditions, including mental health conditions, made up 33.5% of serious claims in 2023-24, up from 26.1% a decade earlier. The make-up of workplace harm is shifting from sudden injury towards conditions that develop over time.
Injuries are more serious later in working life
Trend: Serious claims per million hours worked by age group, 2023-24
- Under 25: 6.4
- 25 to 34: 5.8
- 35 to 44: 5.8
- 45 to 54: 7.2
- 55 to 64: 9.5
- 65+: 10.0
Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025, serious claims by age group.
The serious claim frequency rate is highest among workers aged 55 and over, and both time lost and compensation rise with age. Median time lost grows from 4.0 weeks for workers under 25 to more than 10 weeks for workers aged 55 and over.
ABS survey data suggests mature-age workers are less likely to be injured at work overall, but more likely to be seriously injured when an incident does happen. With Australia's workforce ageing, their share of claims has grown steadily over the past decade.
What the numbers look like in a 200-person workplace
National rates are easier to act on when they are scaled to a workforce you recognise. Safe Work Australia's incidence rate counts the serious claims lodged each year for every 1,000 jobs covered by workers compensation, and across all industries it sits at 10.9. For a business with 200 workers, that works out to about two serious claims a year.
Chart: Expected serious claims a year for a 200-person workforce (calculated)
- Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 3.8
- Construction: 3.5
- Manufacturing: 3.4
- Public administration and safety: 3.3
- Transport, postal and warehousing: 3.2
- Health care and social assistance: 2.7
- All industries: 2.2
- Education and training: 1.8
- Retail trade: 1.5
Source: Actevate calculation from Safe Work Australia's 2023-24 serious claim incidence rates by industry (claims per 1,000 jobs, multiplied by 0.2).
Industry alone can more than double that expectation. On the national rates, a 200-person construction or manufacturing business would expect three to four serious claims a year, compared with about one and a half in retail.
Note: These figures show what is typical for an industry. Your own claims history remains the better guide to your own risk.
The claims that set your costs
Most of those claims will resolve within a few weeks. The ones that shape your costs are the claims that run past 13 weeks, which make up about one in five claims nationally but around three quarters of all compensation paid.
A single mental health claim shows why. At the national median of 35.7 weeks off work and $67,400 in compensation, it costs more than four typical serious claims combined. The first few weeks of any claim are where an employer has the most influence, because early contact and suitable duties are what stop a claim from moving into that long tail.
Why an ageing workforce or mobile plant changes your numbers
Two factors cut across every industry in the data. Workers aged 55 and over lodge serious claims at more than one and a half times the rate of workers aged 25 to 44, and take longer to recover, so an ageing workforce raises the expected cost of every claim. Separately, any site with tractors, loaders, trucks or other mobile plant carries the risk behind two in three worker deaths, whatever industry it sits in.
Tip: Run the same sum on your own numbers. Divide your serious claims last year by your headcount and multiply by 1,000, then compare the result with your industry's incidence rate in the Safe Work Australia report.
How Actevate can help
Actevate supports employers across the whole employee lifecycle. Our pre-employment health assessments match workers to the demands of their role, our return to work services help injured workers recover and return sooner, and our mental health training and Employee Assistance Program help you manage psychosocial risk before it becomes a claim. To talk through what the data means for your workplace, call 1300 663 155 or get in touch.
Sources
- Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025 (latest release)
- Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025 (PDF), October 2025
- Safe Work Australia, Using data to make workplaces safer, every job, every day
- Australian Bureau of Statistics, Work-related injuries, 2021-22, as reported by Safe Work Australia
Disclaimer
This article is general information only and does not constitute legal or health and safety advice. Figures are drawn from Safe Work Australia's Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025, the latest release as at 12 October 2026. Claims data for 2023-24 is preliminary and may be revised. Percentages and figures marked as calculated, and the charts, are Actevate's own analysis and presentation of that data. Safe Work Australia has not reviewed or endorsed this article.
