Background

This Report | Occupational Disease and Injury | Continuing Work

NOHSAC is responsible for providing independent advice directly to the Minister of Labour on major occupational health and safety issues in New Zealand. It plays a key role in:

providing an independent assessment of measures that would deliver the greatest benefit for preventing occupational injury and disease
developing an evidence-based approach to occupational health and safety issues.

This report is a starting point for developing the evidence-based approach, using what is currently known or can be reasonably inferred from international evidence. Its estimates are primarily based on studies undertaken in countries that have working conditions reasonably similar to New Zealand’s. To build the evidence base, the information needs to be updated with New Zealand data as it becomes available.

It is important to note that present estimates of mortality often reflect past exposure conditions. Many of the deaths in one year do not automatically reflect present-day exposure conditions¹. However, conditions such as asbestos-related cancers will continue to increase in number over the next decade. And, in addition to existing or traditional occupational health problems, a number of new occupational health issues are expected to emerge, often with a multi-factorial and multi-causal origin².

This Report

This report is a summary of detailed findings that are presented in an accompanying Technical Report. Its information is based on published literature and relevant information from government reports and on-line and other appropriate sources.

The report covers all conditions that, according to reasonable evidence, have causes related to work. They were determined from two recent review articles, identified literature and conditions particularly relevant to New Zealand. The report also includes quantitative estimates of:

the annual number of deaths from occupational disease and injury
the annual number of new cases of work-related disease and injury in New Zealand.

In many cases these could not be estimated directly from New Zealand data, so a combination of New Zealand and overseas data has been used. This means the estimates should be considered indicative.

Occupational Disease and Injury

The story of work-related disease and injury is one of human and economic costs borne by individual workers, their families and industry over periods often extending to years. Common knowledge indicates there are about 100 deaths each year due to injuries in New Zealand workplaces, but these statistics are just the tip of the iceberg:

Deaths from injuries in the workplace account for only about 10% of all deaths due to work-related causes. These “hidden deaths” are generally not recognised as work related, are not reported, and therefore are not investigated. This is a major issue, as we can only develop effective strategies for preventing work-related deaths if we know how many there are and of what type, and can monitor changes over time.
Those with non-fatal work-related injuries and illnesses experience a significant burden of morbidity.
Occupational injuries and illnesses have long-term consequences and represent a significant cost to workers, their families, their employers, the Government and the economy. The social and economic consequences have been documented in a recent report³, which is a useful companion to this report.

Continuing Work

This report will be regularly updated to take advantage of better quality information and to track the performance of occupational health and safety in New Zealand.