Oldest and youngest workers have highest injury rates – Media release
2 August 2018
Oldest workers had the highest rate of work-related injury claims in 2017, Stats NZ said today.
The second-highest rate was for young people aged 15 to 24 years.
The oldest age group (75+ years) had the highest incidence rate for work-related claims in 2017, with 190 claims per
1,000 full-time employees (FTEs). In comparison, the overall rate for all ages was 101 claims per 1,000 FTEs.
Approximately 2,400 claims were made by workers aged 75+ (just 1 percent of all claims). There were around 12,000 FTEs
in this age group in 2017, about 0.5 percent of the total working population.
“Although working people aged 75+ made up the smallest age group, with the lowest number of work-related claims, they
were almost twice as likely to make a work-related injury claim as all workers,” government injury information manager
James Clarke said.
Around 30 percent of work-related claims in the 75+ age group occurred in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing
industry in 2017. This industry made up around 11 percent of claims for all workers.
The second-highest rate of work-related claims was in the youngest age group (15 to 24 years), with a rate of 133 claims
per 1,000 FTEs. The construction industry had the highest proportion of claims for this age group, with 18 percent of
all their claims.
The 75+ workers also had the highest claim rate for more serious work-related injuries in 2017, at 66 entitlement claims
per 1,000 FTEs. Entitlement claims include additional payments such as death benefits, loss of earning payments, lump
sums, and rehabilitation payments. In contrast, the incidence rate for all workers was just 14 entitlement claims per
1,000 FTEs.
The number of FTEs in the 75+ age group has grown about 10 percent each year since 2011. However, as the number of
work-related injury claims for this age group has increased at a similar rate, the incidence rate of claims has remained
fairly constant.
We added the 75+ category to this release in response to growing interest in an ageing working population. The 2017
provisional figures are based on work-related injury claims accepted by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) or
ACC accredited employers.
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