The agricultural industry has once again topped the list of Australia’s most dangerous jobs, according to new data.
Data analysis and comparison website Finder.com.au has compiled data from Safe Work Australia’s (SFA) report ‘Work-related Traumatic Injury Fatalities, Australia 2015’ and meshed it with employment data from SFA’s ‘Australian Workers Compensation Statistics’ report to create a risk score for each industry.
The data shows the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry was once again Australia’s most dangerous, with 52 fatalities and 3,410 serious injuries recorded in 2015. As this sector contains a relatively low number of workers (318,000), the resulting risk score was 42.10 – more than double the risk factor of the second-placed industry, transport and warehousing.
The report showed that 47 percent of all recorded workplace deaths in 2015 came from the agriculture and transport industries.
Australia’s construction industry recorded 33 deaths and more than 12,000 serious injuries in 2015. As the industry employs around one million people in Australia the resulting risk score of 22.70 ranks it as the third most dangerous industry in the country.
The manufacturing sector didn’t get away scot-free either, coming in at No.4 on the dangerous jobs list with a risk score of 19.00. The 913,000-strong manufacturing industry recorded 13 fatalities and 13,725 serious injuries in 2015.
Australia’s mining industry was on the list at No.6, which is a one spot improvement over last year. The relatively small sector (226,000) recorded 10 deaths and 2,105 serious injuries in 2015 for a final risk score of 14.10.
If you’re looking for the safest industry to work for in Australia, then that’s the financial and insurance services sector, which had no recorded fatalities and just over 600 serious injuries.
But who really wants a desk job?