Injuries with a long latency period are included as occupational diseases. These latter injuries are covered by workers' compensation and are included in the term employment injuries used as the injury measure in workers' compensation statistics. Work injuries can range from the trivial to the severe. It is also clear that what may be perceived as trivial by one person may be viewed more seriously by another. An estimate of the more severe work injuries is obtained using the incidence of those injuries that produce at least five days off work in the first instance.
Severity is the quality for which it has been difficult to develop an effective measure.
Workers' compensation estimates are too much the moving target to be useable as an immediate OHS performance statistic. Statistical Significance of the Number of Work Injuries and the Work Injury Rate Accidents are random events. OHS Information Manual , Section 3.2. AS 1885.1-1990, Workplace Injury and Disease Recording Standard. AS 1885-1976, Recording and Measuring Work Injury Experience.