Review shows Worksafe NZ/ ACC claims grossly exaggerated

Review shows Worksafe NZ/ ACC claims about workplace deaths and injuries grossly exaggerated

A review of the claims made by Worksafe NZ /ACC about New Zealand’s workplace deaths and serious accidents in a series of television advertisements shows that they were grossly exaggerated.

It was stated that last year 23 thousand New Zealanders were killed or seriously injured in workplaces, but official data sources suggest that the number was about 450.

“It is not clear where the 23 thousand figure came from” explained Ian Harrison Principal of Tailrisk Economics “but one possibility is that they are ACC claims numbers, where more than a week is taken off work”

The great bulk of these claims do not relate to serious injuries as defined for official monitoring purposes. The latest data shows that 12,000 relate to soft tissue injuries and 5000 claims were made by white-collar workers.

“It is misleading to use this data in a context where it is suggested that more than 20,000 workers did not come home because they had been killed or seriously injured.” Harrison said.

There is also no credible evidence that New Zealand’s death and serious injury rate is twice that of Australia’s as is claimed in the advertisements.

“Advertisements should not contain claims that are misleading or deceptive.” Harrison said, “A complaint has been made to the Advertising Complaints Authority”

Report available at Tailrisk.co.nz: http://www.tailrisk.co.nz/documents/Accident.pdf

ENDS

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