Of the 533 claims lodged, 38 per cent of claims came from workers who had contracted COVID-19, while 34 per cent of those claims related to the mental health impacts of COVID-19.
Further, 34 per cent of workers compensation claims lodged were from the healthcare and social assistance industry, while 17 per cent were from the public administration and safety industry.
By occupation, community and personal service workers led the way with 184 claims, followed by professionals with 141 claims.
By jurisdiction, New South Wales had the most claims with 299, followed by Victoria with 75 claims, Queensland with 68 and Tasmania with 59.
Because the data covers to the end of July, the report does not capture the extent of any claims arising from the second wave of COVID-19 in Victoria that started in late June.
The data has been collected from the relevant Commonwealth, state and territory workers compensation authorities. However, Safe Work Australia also highlighted significant variations in the way jurisdictions collect and report data on COVID-19 and that caution should be used in interpreting the data.
“Safe Work Australia was not able to provide details on working-from-home claims, and could not include information about the age and gender of claimants for all jurisdictions,” it said.
“Data in this report includes all lodged claims, regardless of determination, but excludes withdrawn claims.”
