Injury hospitalisations among health care workers
Web article
Last updated:
Topic: Injury
Citation
AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) (2026) Injury hospitalisations among health care workers, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 22 July 2026.
Health care and social assistance workers experience some of the highest rates of work-related injuries in Australia, particularly for women (ABS 2023). In 2021–22, 27% of work-related injuries among women and 7% among men were in the health care and social assistance industry.
Workers’ compensation claims for this industry comprise about 20% of the national total (Safe Work Australia 2025). Musculoskeletal injuries account for most serious claims and compensation costs for health care workers. These injuries are related to body stressing and hazardous manual tasks, including patient handling, repetitive tasks and prolonged standing (Oakman 2019; Anderson et al 2019).
Slips, trips and falls are also a leading cause of occupational injury in the Australian health care and social assistance industry, ranking in the top three causes of serious workers’ compensation claims. These injuries are linked to environmental hazards, time pressures and fatigue (Safe Work Australia 2025).
Increasingly, workplace violence and harassment is recognised as a major cause of injury among health care workers, with higher rates of work-related violence than many other industries (Safe Work Australia 2024; Stathakis 2023).
This article looks at injuries among health care workers that occurred while working and were serious enough to result in an admission to hospital, over a 10-year period from 2015–16 to 2024–25.
Key findings
In 2024–25, falls were the leading cause of injury hospitalisation among health care workers
From 2015–16 to 2024–25, assault hospitalisations doubled and moved up from the fourth ranked cause to the second
Male and female health care workers had similar rates of injury hospitalisations
Most injury hospitalisations were short stays, with few requiring intensive care or ventilatory support
Hospital admissions for injury among health care workers were identified in the National Hospital Morbidity Database (NHMD) based on the following criteria:
- a principal diagnosis ICD-10-AM code in the range S00–T75 or T79 Injury, poisoning or certain other consequences of external causes
- an ICD-10-AM activity code U73.07 ‘while working for income - health services’ (including community health services, dental services, general practice medical services, hospitals, nursing homes, specialist medical services, veterinary activities)
- excluding ICD-10-AM codes W53–64, X20–29 and Y37.6 related to injuries involving plants and animals (to exclude injuries that are most likely to affect veterinary workers).
Additionally, to minimise the impact of overcounting where a person experienced multiple episodes of care relating to the same condition, the following criteria are applied to estimate incidents:
- exclude records where admission mode is transfer from another hospital (1)
- exclude records where admission mode is statistical admission (2) and care type is not acute (1, 7.1, 7.2).
- exclude records where care involving use of rehabilitation procedures (Z50) appears as an additional diagnosis and care type is not acute (1, 7.1, 7.2).
To calculate injury rates, the number of employed persons working in health care for each year was obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Labour Force Survey, a national survey that provides comprehensive employment data across industries (ABS 2026). Health care workers were identified using the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) from the Health Care and Social Assistance Division, excluding the subdivision Social Assistance Services which includes childcare services and other social assistance services, such as adoption services (ABS 2013). November figures were used as they were the closest mid-point estimates available for each financial year.
Limitations and scope
This analysis used ICD-10-AM activity code U73.07 while working for income - health services to identify health care workers in the NHMD. The completeness of the activity code in the NHMD is quite low, with a high use of unspecified codes. In 2024–25, 67% of injury hospitalisations were coded using U73.9 unspecified. The low completeness of the activity code may mean that there is an undercount of injuries among health care workers if activity was not recorded.
Injuries presented in this report are only those that were serious enough to result in an admission to hospital and therefore be captured in the NHMD. Many injuries that occur among health care workers will not be serious enough to result in an admission to hospital and may have been treated by a general practitioner or emergency department. These injuries were out of scope of this analysis as they are not captured in the NHMD.
How frequently were health care workers hospitalised for injury?
From 2015–16 to 2024–25, a total of 7,416 injury hospitalisations were recorded among health care workers. In 2024–25, there were 819 injury hospitalisations, which corresponds to a rate of 53 per 100,000 health care workers (or about 1 in 2,000).
From 2015–16 to 2019–20, the rate fluctuated between 54 and 60 per 100,000 health care workers, peaked in 2020–21 at 65, then fell to below 50 in 2022–23 before stabilising at around 53 per 100,000 health care workers from 2023–24 (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Injury hospitalisations among health care workers, 2015–16 to 2024–25
Line graph showing that the rate of injury hospitalisations fluctuated over the 10 years from 2015–16 to 2024–25.
| Financial year | Rate per 100,000 health care workers |
|---|---|
| 2015–16 | 55.2 |
| 2016–17 | 57.9 |
| 2017–18 | 54.1 |
| 2018–19 | 59.9 |
| 2019–20 | 56.9 |
| 2020–21 | 65.3 |
| 2021–22 | 59.6 |
| 2022–23 | 48.8 |
| 2023–24 | 53.9 |
| 2024–25 | 52.6 |
Notes:
- Injuries selected are those with a principal diagnosis ICD-10-AM code in the range S00–T75 or T79 Injury, poisoning or certain other consequences of external causes, and an activity code of U73.07 'while working for income - health services'.
- ICD-10-AM codes W53–64, X20–29 and Y37.6 related to injuries involving plants and animals are excluded.
Downloadable data tables are available on Data. See Table S1.
Source:
AIHW analysis of the National Hospital Morbidity Database
What causes injury to health care workers?
In 2024–25, the leading causes of injury hospitalisations among health care workers were falls (292 injury hospitalisations, or 36% of injury hospitalisations), assaults (126, or 15%) and contact with objects, such as every day or industrial objects including knives, tools or machines (109, or 13%) (Figure 2).
Falls are also the top cause of injury hospitalisations in the general population. However, assaults rank as the second most common cause for health care workers, compared with seventh for the general population. See Injury in Australia for details on ranked causes for the general population.
Figure 2: Injury hospitalisations among health care workers and the general population, by cause, 2024–25
Grouped bar chart showing falls had the highest proportion of injury hospitalisation for both health care workers and the general population in 2024–25.
| Cause | Health care worker injuries | General population injuries |
|---|---|---|
| Falls | 35.7% | 43.4% |
| Assault | 15.4% | 3.8% |
| Contact with objects | 13.3% | 14.1% |
| Overexertion | 10.4% | 2.5% |
| Transport | 10.4% | 11.4% |
| Other unintentional causes | 4.9% | 11.2% |
| Contact with people | 4.6% | 2.3% |
| Accidental poisoning | 3.3% | 1.7% |
| Electricity and air pressure | 0.6% | 0.1% |
| Undetermined intent | 0.6% | 0.7% |
Notes:
- Injuries selected are those with a principal diagnosis ICD-10-AM code in the range S00–T75 or T79 Injury, poisoning or certain other consequences of external causes, and an activity code of U73.07 'while working for income - health services'.
- ICD-10-AM codes W53–64, X20–29 and Y37.6 related to injuries involving plants and animals are excluded.
Downloadable data tables are available on Data. See Table S1.
Source:
AIHW analysis of the National Hospital Morbidity Database
Top 10 detailed causes
In 2024–25, the most common detailed cause of injury hospitalisations among health care workers were falls on the same level from tripping (12%) followed by overexertion and strenuous or repetitive movements (10%) and assault by bodily force (8.3%) (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Injury hospitalisations among health care workers by top 10 detailed cause, 2024–25
Bar chart showing the top 10 detailed causes of hospitalisation among health care workers in 2024–25.
| Top 10 detailed causes | Per cent |
|---|---|
| Fall on same level from tripping | 12.2% |
| Overexertion and strenuous or repetitive movements | 10.4% |
| Assault by bodily force, other specified person | 8.3% |
| Fall on same level from slipping | 7.8% |
| Hit, struck, kicked, twisted, bitten or scratched by another person | 4% |
| Exposure to unspecified factor | 4% |
| Car occupant injured in collision with car, pick-up truck or van, driver, traffic accident, unspecified car | 3.9% |
| Fall on and from other unspecified stairs and steps | 3.9% |
| Struck by thrown, projected or falling object(s) | 2.4% |
| Striking against or struck by other object(s) | 2.1% |
| Top 10 detailed causes | Number |
|---|---|
| Fall on same level from tripping | 100 |
| Overexertion and strenuous or repetitive movements | 85 |
| Assault by bodily force, other specified person | 68 |
| Fall on same level from slipping | 64 |
| Hit, struck, kicked, twisted, bitten or scratched by another person | 33 |
| Exposure to unspecified factor | 33 |
| Car occupant injured in collision with car, pick-up truck or van, driver, traffic accident, unspecified car | 32 |
| Fall on and from other unspecified stairs and steps | 32 |
| Struck by thrown, projected or falling object(s) | 20 |
| Striking against or struck by other object(s) | 17 |
Notes:
- Injuries selected are those with a principal diagnosis ICD-10-AM code in the range S00–T75 or T79 Injury, poisoning or certain other consequences of external causes, and an activity code of U73.07 'while working for income - health services'.
- ICD-10-AM codes W53–64, X20–29 and Y37.6 related to injuries involving plants and animals are excluded.
Downloadable data tables are available on Data. See Table S2.
Source:
AIHW analysis of the National Hospital Morbidity Database
Cause trends over time
From 2015–16 to 2024–25, trends for the top five causes of injury hospitalisations among health care workers (per 100,000 health care workers) fluctuated, with changes seen for:
- assault, which doubled from 4.3 to 8.1 and moved up from the fourth ranked cause to the second (49 to 126 hospitalisations)
- transport accidents, which rose by 43% from 3.8 to 5.5 (44 to 85 hospitalisations)
- overexertion, which halved from 10 to 5.5 (119 to 85 hospitalisations)
- falls, which increased sharply in 2020–21 and subsequently declined in 2022–23 (Figure 4).
Studies of the Australian COVID-19 workforce report system-wide disruptions to working conditions including increased work hours (both paid and unpaid), fatigue and burnout, increased use of PPE, staff shortages, redeployment and altered ward layouts and workflows (Smallwood et al, 2021; Ananda-Rajah et al 2021). These studies do not directly link workplace disruptions with falls or other physical injury, and there is limited research into physical injury, including falls, among health care workers during the years when hospitalisations for COVID-19 were highest.
Figure 4: Injury hospitalisations by the top 5 causes, 2015–16 to 2024–25
Line graph showing trends of injury hospitalisation among health care workers for the top 5 causes from 2015–16 to 2024–25. Falls was the leading cause for the 10-year period.
| Financial year | Assault | Contact with objects | Falls | Overexertion | Transport |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–16 | 4.3 | 9.1 | 19.1 | 10.4 | 3.8 |
| 2016–17 | 6.2 | 8.4 | 20 | 10.2 | 4.7 |
| 2017–18 | 6 | 7.5 | 20.1 | 9.1 | 4.9 |
| 2018–19 | 8.2 | 8.6 | 20.4 | 8.3 | 5.1 |
| 2019–20 | 7.9 | 7.4 | 21.2 | 7.5 | 5.3 |
| 2020–21 | 8.4 | 8.7 | 24.7 | 9.8 | 6.2 |
| 2021–22 | 6.6 | 8.5 | 23.9 | 7.2 | 6.3 |
| 2022–23 | 7.9 | 7.7 | 15.1 | 5.9 | 5.7 |
| 2023–24 | 9.5 | 8.7 | 17.7 | 5.9 | 4.9 |
| 2024–25 | 8.1 | 7 | 18.8 | 5.5 | 5.5 |
Notes:
- Injuries selected are those with a principal diagnosis ICD-10-AM code in the range S00–T75 or T79 Injury, poisoning or certain other consequences of external causes, and an activity code of U73.07 'while working for income - health services'.
- ICD-10-AM codes W53–64, X20–29 and Y37.6 related to injuries involving plants and animals are excluded.
Downloadable data tables are available on Data. See Table S1.
Source:
AIHW analysis of the National Hospital Morbidity Database
What types of injuries occur in health care workers?
In 2024–25, fractures were the most injuries among health care workers, accounting for 28% of hospitalisations (230 hospitalisations). Of specified injury types, this was followed by soft-tissue injuries (122 hospitalisations, or 15%) and open wounds (81, or 10%) (Figure 5).
Figure 5: Injury hospitalisations among health care workers and the general population, by injury type, 2024–25
Grouped bar chart showing fractures had the highest proportion of injury type for both health care workers and the general population in 2024–25.
| Cause | Health care worker injuries | General population injuries |
|---|---|---|
| Fracture | 28.1% | 38.7% |
| Other unspecified and not reported | 18.4% | 7.4% |
| Soft-tissue injury | 14.9% | 9.6% |
| Open wound | 9.9% | 16.9% |
| Intracranial injury | 7.4% | 4.4% |
| Superficial injury | 6.2% | 6.5% |
| Other specified and/or multiple injuries | 4.9% | 2.5% |
| Poisoning or toxic effect | 4.2% | 5.6% |
| Dislocation | 2.7% | 2.1% |
| Nerve injury | 1.3% | 0.9% |
| Burn | 0.6% | 1.2% |
Notes:
- Injuries selected are those with a principal diagnosis ICD-10-AM code in the range S00–T75 or T79 Injury, poisoning or certain other consequences of external causes, and an activity code of U73.07 'while working for income - health services'.
- ICD-10-AM codes W53–64, X20–29 and Y37.6 related to injuries involving plants and animals are excluded.
Downloadable data tables are available on Data. See Table S3.
Source:
AIHW analysis of the National Hospital Morbidity Database
In 2024–25, the head and neck was the most common body part to be injured among health care workers (203 hospitalisations, or 25%), followed by the trunk (157, or 19%) and hip and lower limb (140, or 17%) (Figure 6).
Figure 6: Injury hospitalisations among health care workers by body part injured, 2024–25
Bar chart showing head and neck was the body part with the highest proportion of injury hospitalisations for health care workers in 2024–25.
| Body part injured | Per cent |
|---|---|
| Head and neck | 24.8% |
| Trunk (thorax, abdomen, lower back, lumbar spine & pelvis) | 19.2% |
| Hip and lower limb (excluding ankle and foot) | 17.1% |
| Shoulder and upper limb (excluding wrist and hand) | 16.7% |
| Wrist and hand | 12.6% |
| Injuries not described in terms of body location | 5.1% |
| Ankle and foot | 4.5% |
| Body part injured | Number |
|---|---|
| Head and neck | 203 |
| Trunk (thorax, abdomen, lower back, lumbar spine & pelvis) | 157 |
| Hip and lower limb (excluding ankle and foot) | 140 |
| Shoulder and upper limb (excluding wrist and hand) | 137 |
| Wrist and hand | 103 |
| Injuries not described in terms of body location | 42 |
| Ankle and foot | 37 |
Notes:
- Injuries selected are those with a principal diagnosis ICD-10-AM code in the range S00–T75 or T79 Injury, poisoning or certain other consequences of external causes, and an activity code of U73.07 'while working for income - health services'.
- ICD-10-AM codes W53–64, X20–29 and Y37.9 related to injuries involving plants and animals are excluded.
Downloadable data tables are available on Data. See Table S4.
Source:
AIHW analysis of the National Hospital Morbidity Database
The top 10 detailed principal diagnoses were analysed to provide insight into the specific injuries experienced by health care workers. In 2024–25, the most common diagnosis was injury to abdomen, lower back and pelvis (6.2%) followed by injury to the head (4.8%) and concussion (4.2%) (Figure 7).
Figure 7: Injury hospitalisations among health care workers by the top 10 principal diagnoses, 2024–25
Bar chart showing unspecified injury of abdomen, lower back and pelvis was the principal diagnosis with the highest proportion of injury hospitalisations for health care workers in 2024–25.
| Top 10 principal diagnoses | Per cent |
|---|---|
| Unspecified injury of abdomen, lower back and pelvis | 6.2% |
| Unspecified injury of head | 4.8% |
| Concussion | 4.2% |
| Open wound of finger(s) without damage to nail | 2.9% |
| Unspecified injury of neck | 2.3% |
| Fracture of patella | 1.7% |
| Loss of consciousness of brief duration [less than 30 minutes] | 1.6% |
| Sprain and strain of other and unspecified parts of lumbar spine and pelvis | 1.5% |
| Fracture of lateral malleolus | 1.5% |
| Tear of meniscus | 1.5% |
| Top 10 principal diagnoses | Number |
|---|---|
| Unspecified injury of abdomen, lower back and pelvis | 51 |
| Unspecified injury of head | 39 |
| Concussion | 34 |
| Open wound of finger(s) without damage to nail | 24 |
| Unspecified injury of neck | 19 |
| Fracture of patella | 14 |
| Loss of consciousness of brief duration [less than 30 minutes] | 13 |
| Sprain and strain of other and unspecified parts of lumbar spine and pelvis | 12 |
| Fracture of lateral malleolus | 12 |
| Tear of meniscus | 12 |
Notes:
- Injuries selected are those with a principal diagnosis ICD-10-AM code in the range S00–T75 or T79 Injury, poisoning or certain other consequences of external causes, and an activity code of U73.07 'while working for income - health services'.
- ICD-10-AM codes W53–64, X20–29 and Y37.6 related to injuries involving plants and animals are excluded.
Downloadable data tables are available on Data. See Table S5.
Source:
AIHW analysis of the National Hospital Morbidity Database
Severity of injury
Analysis of metrics including same day discharge, length of stay (number of bed days) and time spent in an intensive care unit (ICU) or on continuous ventilatory support (CVS) can provide an insight into the severity of injuries.
Between 2015–16 and 2024–25, 81% of injury hospitalisations were no longer than one day (55% of health care workers were discharged from hospital on the same day of admission) and 3.4% were longer than one week. Over the same period, a small number (70, or about 1%) of injury hospitalisations required ICU and 24 required CVS.
The causes that were most likely to result in an ICU stay over the 10-year period were falls (24 hospitalisations, or 0.3%), transport (14 hospitalisations, or 0.2%) and assault (9 hospitalisations, or 0.1%).
These findings suggest that only a small number of hospitalisations for injury among health care workers were severe enough to result in an ICU stay or require CVS.
Downloadable data tables are available on Data. See tables S6 to S9.
Place of occurrence
In 2024–25, most injury hospitalisations among health care workers occurred in a health service area (50%). Of specified areas, this was followed by aged care facility (13%), street or highway (10%), other specified place of occurrence (3.7%) and home (3.5%). Place of occurrence was unspecified or unrecorded for 14% of records (Figure 8).
Figure 8: Injury hospitalisations among health care workers by place of occurrence, 2024–25
Bar chart showing health service area was the place of occurrence with the highest proportion of injury hospitalisations for health care workers in 2024–25.
| Place of occurrence | Per cent |
|---|---|
| Health service area | 49.5% |
| Unspecified or unrecorded place of occurrence | 14.4% |
| Aged care facility | 12.8% |
| Street and highway | 10.4% |
| Other specified place of occurrence | 3.7% |
| Home | 3.5% |
| Place of occurrence | Number |
|---|---|
| Health service area | 405 |
| Unspecified or unrecorded place of occurrence | 118 |
| Aged care facility | 105 |
| Street and highway | 85 |
| Other specified place of occurrence | 30 |
| Home | 29 |
Notes:
- Injuries selected are those with a principal diagnosis ICD-10-AM code in the range S00–T75 or T79 Injury, poisoning or certain other consequences of external causes, and an activity code of U73.07 'while working for income - health services'.
- ICD-10-AM codes W53–64, X20–29 and Y37.6 related to injuries involving plants and animals are excluded.
Downloadable data tables are available on Data. See Table S10.
Source:
AIHW analysis of the National Hospital Morbidity Database
Population groups
Age and sex
In 2024–25, female health care workers had more injury hospitalisations (610) than males (208), reflecting their higher workforce proportion (75% in November 2024) (ABS 2026). However, per 100,000 health care workers, the injury rate was similar for males (53) and females (52).
The 55–64-year age group had the highest proportion of injuries among health care workers (23%), however the rate was highest for health care workers aged 65 and over (Figure 9).
Figure 9: Injury hospitalisations by sex and age group, 2024–25
Column chart showing rates of injury hospitalisations by sex and age group for health care workers in 2024–25.
| Sex/Age group | Rate per 100,000 health care workers |
|---|---|
| Male | 53.1 |
| Female | 52.3 |
| 15-24 | 45.9 |
| 25-34 | 35.1 |
| 35-44 | 39.9 |
| 45-54 | 53.4 |
| 55-64 | 90.5 |
| 65+ | 97.7 |
Notes:
- Injuries selected are those with a principal diagnosis ICD-10-AM code in the range S00–T75 or T79 Injury, poisoning or certain other consequences of external causes, and an activity code of U73.07 'while working for income - health services'.
- ICD-10-AM codes W53–64, X20–29 and Y37.6 related to injuries involving plants and animals are excluded.
Downloadable data tables are available on Data. See Tables S11 and S12.
Source:
AIHW analysis of the National Hospital Morbidity Database
From 2015–16 to 2024–25, rates of injury hospitalisations for the top 5 causes varied by sex:
- females were more than 1.5 times as likely than males to be hospitalised for a fall (22 compared to 13 per 100,000 health care workers).
- males were more than twice as likely to be hospitalised due to assault (13 compared to 5.8 per 100,000) (Figure 10).
Figure 10: Injury hospitalisations by the top 5 causes and sex, 10 years combined from 2015–16 to 2024–25
Column chart showing rates of the top 5 causes of injury hospitalisations by sex for health care workers in the combined 10 years from 2015–16 to 2024–25.
| Cause | Male | Female |
|---|---|---|
| Falls | 13.2 | 22 |
| Overexertion | 8.3 | 7.6 |
| Assault | 12.9 | 5.8 |
| Transport | 7.9 | 4.5 |
| Contact with objects | 10.4 | 7.4 |
Notes:
- Injuries selected are those with a principal diagnosis ICD-10-AM code in the range S00–T75 or T79 Injury, poisoning or certain other consequences of external causes, and an activity code of U73.07 'while working for income - health services'.
- ICD-10-AM codes W53–64, X20–29 and Y37.6 related to injuries involving plants and animals are excluded.
Downloadable data tables are available on Data. See Table S13.
Source:
AIHW analysis of the National Hospital Morbidity Database
For the top 5 causes of injury by age group:
- Falls were the leading cause for ages 65 and above (69 per 100,000 health care workers).
- Overexertion was more common among those aged 45 to 64 (9.9 and 10.6 per 100,000 for 45–54 and 55–64, respectively) (Figure 11).
Other causes like assault, transport, and contact with objects show relatively consistent rates across age groups, with minor variations (Figure 11).
Figure 11: Injury hospitalisations by the top 5 causes and age group, 10 years combined from 2015–16 to 2024–25
Column chart showing rates of the top 5 causes of injury hospitalisations by age group for health care workers in the combined 10 years from 2015–16 to 2024–25.
| Cause | 15–24 | 25–34 | 35–44 | 45–54 | 55–64 | 65+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Falls | 6.4 | 7.6 | 9.1 | 18.9 | 45.6 | 69.4 |
| Overexertion | 5.5 | 5.3 | 7.4 | 9.9 | 10.6 | 6.6 |
| Assault | 9 | 8.7 | 6.8 | 6.6 | 7 | 5.5 |
| Transport | 6.7 | 5.1 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 6.5 | 5.1 |
| Contact with objects | 11.1 | 8.2 | 6.5 | 7.3 | 9.4 | 8.5 |
Notes:
- Injuries selected are those with a principal diagnosis ICD-10-AM code in the range S00–T75 or T79 Injury, poisoning or certain other consequences of external causes, and an activity code of U73.07 'while working for income - health services'.
- ICD-10-AM codes W53–64, X20–29 and Y37.9 related to injuries involving plants and animals are excluded.
Downloadable data tables are available on Data. See Table S14.
Source:
AIHW analysis of the National Hospital Morbidity Database
First Nations people
Injury hospitalisations among Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) health care workers represented 4.2% of injury hospitalisations in 2024–25, up from 0.9% in 2015–16 and 2.5% over the last 10 years combined (Figure 12).
The increase in injury hospitalisations among First Nations health care workers coincides with a rise in the number of First Nations people participating in the health care workforce. Between 2011 and 2021, the proportion of First Nations individuals aged 15 and over employed in health-related occupations grew from 255 to 309 per 10,000 population (AIHW 2026).
Figure 12: Injury hospitalisations of health care workers who identified as First Nations, 2015–16 to 2024–25
Line chart showing the proportion of injury hospitalisations of First Nations health care workers has risen over the 10 years from 2015–16 to 2024–25.
| Year | Percent |
|---|---|
| 2015–16 | 0.9% |
| 2016–17 | 1% |
| 2017–18 | 2.4% |
| 2018–19 | 3.1% |
| 2019–20 | 2.3% |
| 2020–21 | 2.3% |
| 2021–22 | 3.1% |
| 2022–23 | 2.9% |
| 2023–24 | 2.2% |
| 2024–25 | 4.2% |
Notes:
- Injuries selected are those with a principal diagnosis ICD-10-AM code in the range S00–T75 or T79 Injury, poisoning or certain other consequences of external causes, and an activity code of U73.07 'while working for income - health services'.
- ICD-10-AM codes W53–64, X20–29 and Y37.6 related to injuries involving plants and animals are excluded.
Downloadable data tables are available on Data. See Table S15.
Source:
AIHW analysis of the National Hospital Morbidity Database
Region
From 2015–16 to 2024–25, the rate of injury hospitalisation (per 100,000 health care workers) was higher among those living in Major cities compared with the rest of Australia for all years, except 2017–18 (Figure 13).
Figure 13: Injury hospitalisations by region, 2015–16 to 2024–25
Line chart showing the rate of injury hospitalisations of health care workers by region over the 10 years from 2015–16 to 2024–25.
| Year | Major cities | Rest of Australia |
|---|---|---|
| 2015–16 | 56.9 | 51.4 |
| 2016–17 | 62.5 | 48.4 |
| 2017–18 | 53.3 | 55 |
| 2018–19 | 62 | 54.4 |
| 2019–20 | 56.9 | 55.3 |
| 2020–21 | 67.4 | 60.5 |
| 2021–22 | 60.1 | 57.7 |
| 2022–23 | 53.3 | 37.6 |
| 2023–24 | 54.9 | 49.8 |
| 2024–25 | 54.5 | 45.1 |
Notes:
- Injuries selected are those with a principal diagnosis ICD-10-AM code in the range S00–T75 or T79 Injury, poisoning or certain other consequences of external causes, and an activity code of U73.07 'while working for income - health services'.
- ICD-10-AM codes W53–64, X20–29 and Y37.6 related to injuries involving plants and animals are excluded.
Downloadable data tables are available on Data. See Table S16.
Source:
AIHW analysis of the National Hospital Morbidity Database
Over the combined 10 years from 2015–16 to 2024–25, the rate of injury hospitalisations (per 100,000 health care workers) for the top 5 causes varied by region:
- Assault, contact with objects, falls, and transport accidents were more likely to occur among health care workers living in Major cities (8.5, 8.8, 20 and 5.7, respectively)
- Overexertion was more likely to occur among health care workers living outside of a major city (8.7) (Figure 14).
Figure 14: Injury hospitalisations by region and cause, 10 years combined from 2015–16 to 2024–25
Column chart showing the rate of injury hospitalisations of health care workers by the top 5 causes and region in the 10 years combined from 2015–16 to 2024–25.
| Cause | Major cities | Rest of Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Assault | 8.5 | 4.9 |
| Contact with objects | 8.8 | 6.5 |
| Falls | 20.4 | 18.8 |
| Overexertion | 7.3 | 8.7 |
| Transport | 5.7 | 4.2 |
Notes:
- Injuries selected are those with a principal diagnosis ICD-10-AM code in the range S00–T75 or T79 Injury, poisoning or certain other consequences of external causes, and an activity code of U73.07 'while working for income - health services'.
- ICD-10-AM codes W53–64, X20–29 and Y37.6 related to injuries involving plants and animals are excluded.
Downloadable data tables are available on Data. See Table S17.
Source:
AIHW analysis of the National Hospital Morbidity Database
State and territory
Information on injuries to health care workers for specific states and territories is available on Data. See Tables S18 to S20.
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Anderson S, Stuckey R, Fortington LV, and Oakman J (2019) ‘Workplace injuries in the Australian allied health workforce’, Australian Health Review, 43(1):49-54, doi.org/10.1071/AH16173
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Stathakis V (2023) Hospital-treated occupational violence and aggression-related injury in healthcare settings in Victoria, 2016/17–2020/21 Hazard Edition 90. Melbourne, Victoria: Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit, Monash University Accident Research Centre, accessed 11 March 2026.
SWA (Safe Work Australia) (2025) Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025, Safe Work Australia, Canberra, accessed 17 March 2026.
SWA (2024) Workplace and work-relate violence and aggression in Australia, Safe Work Australia, Canberra, accessed 17 March 2026.