WHS Benchmarking Sector Report
The Disability SAFE WHS Benchmarking offers organisations the opportunity to measure performance on injury prevention and management relative to other organisations providing similar services in the disability sector. The data presented in this report was collected from 43 organisations from the 2012-2013 financial year. Data from 2011-2012 was collected from 21 organisations.
Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate
Across all organisations the overall Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) dropped from the 2011-2012 financial year at 22.96 to 15.63 for the 2012-2013 financial year. The LTIFR dropped for most business streams, however Case Management, Open Employment and Respite did record increases in the LTIFR. Education and Trades had no reported injuries for the second consecutive year (NB: Community Transport did not report injuries for 2012-2013 and no data was collected for this business stream in 2011-2012).
Figure 1: Average LTIFR across all business streams
LTIFR indicates how many lost time injuries can be expected per 1,000,000 hours worked.
LTIFR is calculated with the formula LTIFR = Number of LTIs / Hours Worked * 106
Lost Time Injury Duration Rate
The Lost Time Injury Duration Rate (LTIDR) across all organisations increased from the 2011-2012 financial year to the 2012-2013 financial year from 10.80 days lost per injury to 11.46 days lost per injury. All business streams had an increase in LTIDR apart from Community Access which recorded a slight decline from 14.30 to 13.04.
Figure 2: Average LTIDR across all business streams
LTIDR indicates how many days an injured worker takes on average to return to work after an injury.
LTIDR is calculated with the formula LTIDR = Number of days lost / Number of LTIs
Cause of Lost Time Injury
The main cause of injury for 2012-2013 was Manual Handling Injuries accounting for 28% of all injuries with 15% as a result of moving an object and 13% of injuries as a result of moving a person. Other leading causes of injury were Slips, Trips and Falls (21% of all injuries) and Workplace Violence and Behaviour of Client (15% of all injuries).
Although Manual Handling was the leading cause of injury for 2012-2013 it was proportionally down from 2011-2012, however an increase was observed in slips, trips and falls and psychological injuries. Workplace violence and injuries as a result of the Behaviour of a client have also increased from 2011-2012,
Figure 3: Proportion of causes of LTI from all organisations
Incidents by Location
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WHS Benchmarking Sector Report
Some organisations provided information on the location of incidents that occurred. The vast majority of incidents occurred in organisation facilities, followed by incidents occurring in the community followed closely by incidents occurring in the client home.
Incidents occurring within an organisation facility have the most potential to be controlled or eliminated. Figure 3 (page 4) indicates that the majority of injuries are as a result of manual handling and slips, trips and falls. Controls such as manual handling training, use of mechanical aids when moving an object or person, removing or identifying trip hazards, ensuring high traffic areas are clear and wearing appropriate footwear will help reduce the frequency of incidents and injuries within organisation facilities.
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