Lost Time Injury and Illness
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Our primary injury and illness measure is the Lost Time Injury
and Illness rate (the number of injuries and illnesses that result
in one or more lost work days per 100,000 hours worked). In 2001
we set a target to reduce this rate by 15% per year through 2005.
From 2001 to 2002, the rate declined from 0.43 to 0.34, a reduction
of 21%, and from 2002 to 2003 it declined to 0.30, an additional
12%. Although the improvement was not uniform for the two years
and we missed our target for 2003, if we had improved exactly 15%
per year from 2001 we would have achieved only a rate of .31 in
2003.
Lost Time Injury and Illness Rate |
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The lost time injury rate per 100,000 hours
worked was 0.28 and the lost time illness rate was 0.02
based on 567 lost time injuries and 46 lost time illnesses.
There were also 49 cases of mental ill health with lost
time that are not included in the rate. The rate declined by 21% from 2001 to 2002 and a further 12% from 2002 to 2003 for an overall improvement from 2001 to 2003 of 30%. |
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Lost
Time Injury and Illness Rate by Business |
The trend is consistently improving in all business units except in the one that already has the lowest rate for all three years, Regional Pharmaceutical Supply. The Biologicals business unit is improving but has the highest rate of lost time injuries and illnesses. |
Categories
of Lost Time Injury |
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Categories
of Lost Time Illness |
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The three leading types of lost time injuries are slips trips
and falls followed by over-exertion strain injuries and motor
vehicle accidents. This pattern is consistent with prior years.
The leading type of lost time illness continues to be mental
ill health, which we do not include in the calculation of
the overall lost time injury and illness rate. The second
most frequent type of lost time illness is musculoskeletal
which is primarily repetitive strain injury. |
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The Lost Calendar Day rate is the number
of calendar days that employees could not work because
of work-related injuries and illnesses per 100,000 hours
worked. This provides one measure of the severity of
illnesses and injuries but it is important to remember
that the rate can vary for other reasons. Medical and
disability management practices can vary in different
parts of the world and there are some illnesses such
as hearing loss and sensitisation that can result in
permanent disability without resulting in lost time.
These and other reasons can both inflate and deflate
the lost calendar day rate.
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| There were 12,344 lost days due to injury
and 1,377 lost days due to illness in 2003 excluding
work related mental illness. Injuries from motor vehicle
accidents caused the greatest number of lost days from
injury at 4,004, 32% of the total. Musculoskeletal illness,
generally caused by cumulative trauma, was the leading
cause of lost days from illness accounting for 1,094,
79% of the lost days excluding work related mental illness.
Illnesses resulting in permanent disability, such as
noise induced hearing loss, sensitisations, and some
cases of cancer and musculoskeletal illness also merit
special preventive focus. Approximately nine percent
of 2003 illnesses resulted in permanent disabilities. |
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