Statistics

WorkSafe moves to the latest industry and injury coding standards

On the 1 July 2011, WorkSafe will commence using the latest versions of industry, occupation and injury coding standards for the reporting and investigation of all work related traumatic fatalities and lost time injuries and diseases in Western Australia.

The coding standards used from this date will be:

• Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification 2006 (ANZSIC 2006);
• Type of Occurrence Classification System Third Edition Revision 1 (TOOCS 3.1); and
• Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations First Edition (ANZSCO).

ANZSIC 2006 and ANZSCO publications can be downloaded from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) website. The ABS site also provides correspondence tables and indexes of primary activities for ANZSIC 2006 to help you find where your organisation fits in the new industry structure. TOOCS 3.1 can be downloaded from the Safe Work Australia website.

In terms of data reporting, a break in series will occur. This means data will not be comparable between the older and updated versions due to the structural and definition differences.

For example, under ANZSIC 1993 manufacturers who sold their produce directly to end consumers i.e. bakeries, would be classified as retailers (class 5124 Bread and Cake Retailing, group 512 Specialised Food Retailing, subdivision 51 Food Retailing, Division G Retail Trade); in ANZSIC 2006 this has been changed so that businesses that manufacture and sell their product on the same premise are classified under manufacturing (class 1174 Bakery Product Manufacturing (non-factory based), group 117 Bakery Product Manufacturing, subdivision 11 Food Product Manufacturing, Division C Manufacturing).

Another difference is the TOOCS coding definition of the mechanism of injury; in TOOCS 3.1 it is to identify the circumstances of the incident rather than the direct cause of the most serious injury/disease as defined in TOOCS 2.1.

Therefore, time series data analysis will not be possible across coding versions and will not be possible in the updated versions until at least three years of data has been recorded. As such the reporting years up to and including 2008-2009 data will remain in the older classification versions (ANZSIC 1993, TOOCS 2.1 and ASCO); data for the reporting year 2009-2010 and beyond will be reported in the updated classification versions ANZSIC 2006, TOOCS 3.1 and ANZSCO).

The break in series will not affect data reporting at an overall National and State level, but will be evident when reporting on detailed topics such as industry divisions and injury types etc. Where appropriate, notations will be included warning readers of the danger of comparing statistics across a break in series.