 Why Has the Workplace Become Safer?Vani Borooah and John Mangan () Australian Economic Review, 1998, vol. 31, issue 3, 224-236 Abstract: This paper asks whether the fall over 1983–1993 in the aggregate injury‐to‐workforce ratio (the injury rate) that occurred in Queensland was due to improvements in industrial safety or due to shifts in employment away from ‘unsafe’ industries. The conclusion, based on data from the Queensland Employee Injury Data Base, is that improvements in industrial safety were the main reason for the State’s workplace becoming safer. The paper then conducts an econometric investigation in to why industrial injury rates in Queensland fell over 1983–1993. The evidence is that in Mining, Manufacturing and Construction, there was a significant autonomous decrease in the injury rate. The problem is that since the data available were only for those injuries against which compensation was claimed, it is difficult to say—except as a matter of judgement—whether improvements in injury rates in these sectors were due to genuine improvements in safety or caused by a fall in the propensity to claim compensation. Changes in general economic conditions—particularly, rising unemployment—have also contributed to falling injury rates. Date: 1998 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:ausecr:v:31:y:1998:i:3:p:224-236 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Australian Economic Review is currently edited by John de New, Viet Hoang Nguyen and Susan Méndez More articles in Australian Economic Review from The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research Contact information at EDIRC. |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.