Shocking Construction Injury Statistics
Written by on 20/01/2017
Each year there are hundreds of workplace accidents and dozens of workplace injury-related fatalities. The construction industry is an incredibly dangerous one as a result of fatal construction injuries. Within the construction industry, there are five accident types that are particularly deadly. These have often been termed construction’s ‘fatal five’. The harsh reality is that well over half of all construction site accidents last year were due to the fatal five. While we shouldn’t lose sight of other workplace hazards, placing greater emphasis on improving safety in these five categories of construction injuries can help mitigate risk. The top five injuries that lead to fatalities in the construction industry in Australia are as follows.
The Fatal Mechanism of Incident
Falls from a height accounted for 28% of fatalities overall in the construction industry over the 12-year period 2002–03 to 2013–14. In the industry group classes of the construction industry, falls from a height was the mechanism responsible for the most fatalities in house construction, non-residential building construction, painting & decoration services, plumbing services and roofing services.
| Mechanism of incident | NSW | Vic | QLD | W A | S A | Tasmania | Australia |
| Falls from a height | 37% | 29% | 21% | 21% | 25% | 21% | 28% |
| Vehicle collision | 15% | 19% | 17% | 10% | 14% | 29% | 16% |
| Contact with electricity | 16% | 11% | 18% | 14% | 11% | 7% | 15% |
| Being hit by moving objects | 12% | 11% | 12% | 17% | 4% | 14% | 12% |
| Being hit by falling objects | 7% | 12% | 13% | 21% | 14% | 21% | 12% |
| Other mechanisms | 13% | 18% | 18% | 17% | 32% | 7% | 17% |
| Total | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
