Economy
Workplace deaths persist as old risks resurface in new forms of work
Australia's safety record has improved, but failures in risk assessment, production pressure and weak worker voice continue to kill workers, says UNSW expert Michael Quinlan.
Safe Work Australia recorded 188 workers fatally injured at work in 2024, with the traumatic-injury fatality rate falling from 2.7 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2003 to 1.3 in 2024.
UNSW Business School Emeritus Professor Michael Quinlan, who has spent more than four decades studying workplace health and safety, says the improvement masks persistent failures. "People still die for the same reasons they died in the past: failures in engineering, design and maintenance at work; failure to take account of risk warning signals," he said.
Prof. Quinlan recently became Chair of the SafeWork NSW Advisory Council. He said organisations still fail to assess risks properly, systems break down, audits do not identify problems, production pressures take precedence over safety and workers' concerns are ignored.
Diseases and conditions accounted for 33.5% of serious workers' compensation claims in 2023–24, up from 26.1% a decade earlier, Safe Work Australia data show. Mental health conditions accounted for 12% of all serious claims, with median time lost from work in these claims almost five times that recorded across all other injuries and diseases.
Prof. Quinlan estimates that diseases and exposure to hazardous substances cause about 10 times as many deaths as traumatic injuries. "If you put workers into highly stressful work situations, and they're working harder, that will kill people in the longer term," he said.
Vehicle incidents remain the leading cause of traumatic workplace fatalities, accounting for 42% of worker deaths in 2024. The highest fatality rates were recorded in agriculture, forestry and fishing, transport, postal and warehousing, and mining.
Research links insecure employment with greater economic pressure, weaker training and induction, fragmented responsibility and reluctance to report safety concerns. Since 17 August, eligible workers engaged through digital platforms for food delivery have been covered by a Fair Work Commission order setting minimum earnings, ranging from $31.30 an hour for bicycle and scooter riders to $32 for workers using a car or van.
Prof. Quinlan said low and unpredictable earnings encourage workers to work longer hours, skip breaks or take risks. "You can't have a safe workplace if you're not giving people decent pay," he said. Minimum pay alone will not solve gig-work safety problems; platforms also need to consider how payment systems, algorithms and contracting arrangements influence workers' behaviour.
Prof. Quinlan's recent research on safety representation in NSW mining examined coal and metalliferous mining using incident data, regulatory records and interviews. Coal mining retained a two-tier system of site safety representatives and full-time industry representatives with statutory powers. In metalliferous mining, the industry-level representative was removed in 2004, while site representatives were replaced by more general health and safety representatives in 2013.
"It's quite clear that one of the reasons coal mining is safe in Australia is because it has very strong safety representatives," Prof. Quinlan said. Workers may be reluctant to raise concerns when they fear victimisation or depend on a contractor for employment. Contractors and labour-hire workers face additional challenges through fragmented work and less access to experienced representatives.
Artificial intelligence and algorithmic management are adding complexity. Automated vehicles at mine sites can create hazards; running equipment at high speed can damage roads, creating corrugations and vibration that affect manual drivers. "There are all these hidden issues which people don't even think about," he said.
Digital systems could help prevent collisions and improve monitoring, but safety benefits will not necessarily emerge without regulation or incentives. Companies need to assess new work systems before they are introduced, rather than waiting for injuries or deaths to reveal their risks.
Prof. Quinlan is involved in a University of Adelaide-led study examining the impact of the new gig-worker standards on workers' mental health and wellbeing. "Industrial relations legislation sets a baseline on which you can build health and safety," he said. The challenge for regulators and employers is to make sure that baseline keeps pace with how work is changing.