16 Oct 2015

New data on agriculture ACC claims

8:15 pm on 16 October 2015

Workers in agriculture, forestry and fishing had the highest rate of work-related injury claims by occupation in 2014, according to figures released by Statistics New Zealand.

Organic Jersey cow.

Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson

The numbers are based on claims accepted by the ACC.

Agriculture, forestry and fishing workers made about 32,500 successful claims last year, equivalent to 242 injuries for every 1000 full time employees.

The group also had the highest rate of serious injuries, at 30 per every 1000 workers.

Men were more prone than women to workplace accidents in 2014, generating 71 percent of all injury claims and 96 percent of fatal injury claims.

Workers under 24 and over 65 had the highest claim rates across all age groups, while the Gisborne/Hawke's Bay region was the most accident prone with 59 claims for every thousand workers.

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