Industries

In 2022/23 an estimated 1.8 million workers were suffering from an illness they believed was caused or made worse by their work and 561,000 workers sustained a non-fatal injury at work. [Source: Self-reports from the Labour Force Survey]. However, the risk of injury and work-related ill health varies across industry, being more likely in some industries than others.

The charts below show how the overall rates of self-reported work-related ill health and workplace injury vary between industry groups.

  • The industries for which the rate is statistically significantly higher than the average are generally not the same for work-related ill health and workplace injury.
  • While the chart shows the overall picture for each industry group, this may be masking differences at more detailed levels (for example, illness type or more detailed industry sub-groups).

Self-reported work-related ill health

Latest data shows the rates of self-reported work-related ill health in the following main industry sectors were statistically significantly higher than the average rate across all industries:

  • human health and social work activities
  • public administration and defence
  • education

Rate of work-related Ill health by industry for people working in the last 12 months (per 100,000 workers) [Note 1], [Note 2], [Note 3]

Industry Rate of work-related ill health Lower CI Upper CI
Human health/social work (Q) 6860 6300 7420
Public admin/defence (O) 5350 4620 6080
Education (P) 4930 4410 5450
Admin/support services (N) 4100 3270 4920
Other service activities (S) 4000 2630 5380
Water/sewerage/waste (E) # 3890 2200 5590
Professional/scientific (M) 3650 3070 4230
Agriculture, forestry, fishing (A) 3450 1940 4960
Wholesale/retail trade (G)* 3410 2970 3850
Transportation/storage (H) 3350 2650 4050
Construction (F) 3340 2770 3910
Arts/entertainment (R) 3340 2280 4400
Manufacturing (C) 3270 2720 3810
Finance/insurance (K) 3130 2440 3820
Accommodation/food services (I) 2960 2260 3650
Real estate (L) 2840 1600 4080
Information/communication (J) 2780 2090 3480
All industries [See note 2] 4150 3970 4320

Data in this chart is available at LFSILLIND – Labour Force Survey, ill health by industry

Self-reported workplace injury

Latest data shows the rates of self-reported workplace non-fatal injury in the following main industry sectors were statistically significantly higher than the average rate across all industries:

  • agriculture, forestry and fishing
  • construction
  • accommodation and food services
  • wholesale/retail trade (including motor vehicle repair)

Rate of non-fatal workplace injuries by industry for people working in the last 12 months (per 100,000 workers) [Note 1], [Note 2], [Note 3]

Industry Rate of non-fatal workplace injuries Lower CI Upper CI
Agriculture, forestry, fishing (A) 3730 2230 5220
Construction (F) 2640 2090 3190
Accommodation/food services (I) 2500 1770 3220
Wholesale/retail trade (G)* 1960 1610 2320
Transportation/storage (H) 1860 1350 2370
Human health/social work (Q) 1780 1490 2080
Admin/support services (N) 1780 1240 2320
Manufacturing (C) 1740 1350 2130
Public admin/defence (O) 1440 1090 1790
Other service activities (S) # 1170 670 1680
Arts/entertainment (R) # 1140 610 1670
Education (P) 1080 830 1330
Professional/scientific (M) 580 340 820
All industries [Note 2] 1520 1410 1620

Data in this chart is available at LFSINJIND – Labour Force Survey, non-fatal injury by industry

Chart Notes

  • Note 1: Industry groupings based on the section level of the 2007 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC). Charts display only those industries for which a reliable estimate is available.
  • Note 2: Restricted to injuries/ill health in current or most recent job.
  • Note 3: These estimates are based on results from a survey and are subject to sampling error – i.e. a range of uncertainty in the estimate arising from the sampling process. This uncertainty is displayed as a 95% confidence interval around the estimate. The assessment of whether the rate for an individual industry is statistically significantly above or below average takes into account the sampling uncertainty around each estimate.

More detailed statistics on selected industry groups

Further information can be found in the suite of health and safety statistics tables.

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Updated 2023-12-06