WorkSafe Tasmania

WorkSafe Tasmania

Safe and well every day

Construction snapshot 2021

Key facts about the workforce

This industry grouping covers a wide range of activities, separated into eight groups. The three largest employing groups are:

  • Building installation services
  • Residential building construction
  • Building completion services

Key facts about injury numbers

There were 744 injuries across this industry in 2021.

This results in a serious injury frequency rate of 14.7 serious injuries per million hours worked.

The serious injury frequency rate of 14.7 is 40% higher than the state average of 10.5.

The industry’s serious injury frequency rate was 12% higher in 2021 than ten years ago.

Key facts about injured workers

Building structure services reported the highest serious injury frequency rate at 25 serious injuries per million hours worked.

The occupations with the highest proportion of serious injuries were:

  • Bricklayers, carpenters and joiners with 21% of the total and
  • Miscellaneous labourers with 13% of the total

Key facts about injury causes

The most common causes of injury across the industry in 2021, in order of largest proportion of total injuries, were:

  • Falls, slips and trips
  • Body stressing
  • Being hit by moving objects

Priority conditions and causes

The WorkSafe Strategic Plan 2018-2023 identifies six priority causes and conditions, of these five are most relevant to the industry:

  • Musculoskeletal disorders
  • Hazardous manual tasks
  • Slips, trips and falls
  • Safe movement of vehicles and plant
  • Asbestos related disease
Last updated: 23 August 2023
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