The transport and storage industry is the most dangerous industry to work in, according to a new list of Australia’s most dangerous jobs.
Comparison website finder.com.au sourced information from Safe Work Australia’s 2012 work-related fatalities statistics to compile the 10 most dangerous jobs in Australia.
Trucking, postal and warehousing were found to be the most dangerous jobs, with an average of 65 deaths for the year. Vehicle crashes made up 68 per cent of these fatalities, while the biggest cause of injury came from muscle stress related to lifting and carrying.
Agriculture, forestry and fishing industries came second on the list, with 3,815 serious injuries and 53 deaths for the year. Employees in these jobs are more likely to die from being hit by an animal, drowning and heat exposure.
“Many Australian workers have to drive vehicles or lift things as part of their job, and they may not realise how dangerous their work can be,” said Michelle Hutchison, Money Expert at finder.com.au.
“The most common serious claim for all industries was muscular stress while lifting, carrying or putting down objects, and the most common fatality was vehicle incidents.”
Vehicle incidents accounted for 33 per cent of all fatalities.
Other jobs in the top 10 include construction, with 30 fatalities; manufacturing, with 26 fatalities; public/government administration, safety, and defence, with 13 fatalities; and, somewhat surprisingly, retail, with an average of 6 fatalities – matching the mining sector.
“You may not think that a sales assistant has a dangerous job, but when we found that there were 11,206 serious injuries including six fatalities in the one year, it’s not surprising that it made the list,” said Mrs Hutchison.
Retail deaths were attributed to driving, explosions, contact with chemicals and being trapped between stationary and moving objects. Lifting heavy objects most commonly caused serious injuries.
Source: finder.com.au, Safe Work Australia, Australian Bureau of Statistics, population rounded to the nearest 100,000, table is ranked by highest number of fatalities for each industry
