A descriptive analysis of work-related fatal injury in older workers in Australia 2000-2009

The objective of this study is to describe the extent, nature, age distribution and external causes of older-worker fatalities and to provide baseline data for future studies. The methods included retrospective descriptive cohort study using existing population-based mortality data. The study examined work-related fatalities aged 55 years and older, 2000-2009, in Australia following coronial investigation. Of the 336 fatalities identified, almost all (96.3%) were male. The industry with most deaths was agriculture, forestry and fishing (37.8%), followed by transport, postal and warehousing (19.3%) and construction (16.6%). The most frequent injury mechanism was transport-related (40.4%). With predicted workforce ageing, older-worker deaths will become a significant public health issue. Employers and authorities will need to understand older-workers characteristics and vulnerabilities to enable appropriate injury prevention strategy implementation.