Fatal work-related injury claims also plunge to new low
The incidence rate for claims related to work-related injuries dropped to its lowest since the record began in 2002, according to Stats NZ.
In 2023, there were 86 claims per 1,000 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) for work-related injuries, down from 88 a year ago.
This decline comes despite the 1,200 increase in work-related injury claims to reach 226,600 in 2023.
According to Stats NZ, incidence rates are "more comparable than absolute numbers over time because they account for the size of the population at risk."
"As New Zealand's population has grown, the number of injuries has increased, but the declining incidence rate shows claims per 1,000 FTEs are down," Stats NZ said.
Source: Stats NZ
Work-related injury claims
Out of the total claims made in 2023, Stats NZ said 43,200 work-related injury claims involved entitlement payments, which generally arise from more serious injuries and include additional payments such as death benefits, loss of earnings payments, lump sums, and rehabilitation payments.
Claims for soft-tissue injuries were the most common in 2023, with 146,500 claims.
"Soft-tissue injuries include ligament, tendon, and muscle injuries in all parts of the body and do not include bone injuries or organ injuries," Stats NZ said.
Meanwhile, fatal work-related injury claims plunged to 54, much lower than the 81 recorded in 2022, and became the lowest number of fatal claims in a single year since 2002.
By industry, ethnicity, age group, sex
By industry, the manufacturing industry saw the highest incidence rate of work-related claims with 151 claims per 1,000 FTEs.
The lowest was recorded in the financial and insurance services industry, which saw eight claims per 1,000 FTEs.
Source: Stats NZ
The incidence rate for men (107) was also higher than that for women (60), according to the report.
By age group, the incidence rate was highest for FTEs aged 75 and higher (133), followed by FTEs between ages 15 and 24 (116).
By ethnicity, the incidence rate of Middle Eastern, Latin American, African, and other ethnic categories reached 165 claims for every 1,000 FTEs. This is despite the category only accounting for five per cent of all work-related injury claims.
Pacific workers had the second-highest incidence rate of 99 work-related injury claims per 1,000 FTEs in 2023.
Source: Stats NZ