The most common mechanism of incident for worker fatalities over the past 10 years (2013 to 2022) was ‘vehicle incidents‘ (38% of all traumatic injury fatalities).

This was followed by ‘Being hit by moving objects‘ (13%), ‘Falls from a height’ (12%) and ‘Being hit by falling objects’ (10%). ‘Vehicle incidents’ have been the most common mechanism of incident by a clear margin over the long term. The majority of ‘Vehicle incidents’ were in the Transport, postal & warehousing industry (53%).

This was followed by the Agriculture, forestry & fishing industry (18%). In the Transport, postal & warehousing, workers were fatally injured more often in incidents involving heavy vehicles such as a truck or bus compared to the Agriculture, forestry & fishing industry, where fatal injuries often involved incidents in aircraft or other vehicles such as quad bikes and side-by-side vehicles.

‘Being hit by moving objects’ was the second highest mechanism of worker fatalities – with 3 in 4 worker fatalities caused by ‘being hit by moving objects’ involved vehicles, including road vehicles, mobile plant and self-propelled plant. The most common industries where workers were fatally injured due to ‘being hit by moving objects’ were Agriculture, forestry & fishing (26%),

Transport, postal and warehousing (17%), and Construction (16%). ‘Falls from a height’ was the third highest mechanism of worker fatalities.

‘Falls from a height’ was most common in the Construction industry (39%), followed by Agriculture, forestry and fishing (16%). Of particular note, the most common breakdown agencies, or circumstances leading to the incident occurring, were buildings (45 workers–primarily in the Construction industry), followed by ladders (29 workers – primarily in the Construction industry), horses (21 workers – primarily in the Arts & recreation services industry) and openings in floors/walls/ceilings (15 workers – primarily in the Construction industry).

Addressing the hazards that contribute to these mechanisms of incident, which contribute close to two-thirds of the overall number of worker traumatic injury fatalities, will support a reduction in the fatality rate to be achieved over the course of the Strategy. There are significantly more worker fatalities resulting from single vehicle incidents than multiple vehicle incidents. 77% (108) of worker fatalities that involved vehicles in 2022 stemmed from single vehicle incidents.