Occupational exposures and hazards

In 2018, 1.5% of the total burden among Indigenous Australians was due to occupational exposures & hazards.

These estimates reflect the amount of burden that could have been avoided if all Indigenous Australians were not exposed to occupational exposures & hazards including injuries, loud noise, carcinogens, particulate matter, gas and fumes, asthmagens and ergonomic factors.

In 2018, occupational exposures & hazards was linked to 26 diseases and injuries including 11 types of cancer, 8 types of injury, hearing loss, back pain & problems, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), silicosis, asbestosis and other pneumoconiosis (see Table 1 below and ABDS 2018 Risk factor estimates for Indigenous Australians data table S1).

Table 1: Type of occupational exposures and hazards and corresponding linked diseases as estimated in the Australian Burden of Disease Study 2018
Occupational exposure or hazard Linked disease

Injury

Drowning, falls, fire, burns and scalds, homicide and violence, road traffic injuries—motor vehicle occupants, road traffic injuries—motorcyclists, other unintentional injuries, other land transport injuries

Benzene or formaldehyde

Acute myeloid leukaemia, chronic myeloid leukaemia, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, other leukaemias, nasopharyngeal cancer

Noise

Hearing loss

Arsenic, beryllium, cadmium chromium, diesel engine exhaust, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, nickel, second-hand smoke, silica

Lung cancer

Sulfuric acid

Laryngeal cancer

Trichloroethylene

Kidney cancer

Particulate matter, gas and fumes

COPD

Asbestos

Laryngeal cancer, lung cancer, ovarian cancer mesothelioma

Asbestos, silicone and particulate matter

Silicosis, asbestosis and other pneumoconiosis

Asthmagens

Asthma

Ergonomic factors

Back pain & problems

How much burden was attributable to occupational exposures and hazards?

In 2018 among Indigenous Australians, occupational exposures & hazards were responsible for the entire burden from silicosis, asbestosis and other pneumoconiosis, 49% of mesothelioma burden, 16% of burden from back pain & problems, 15% of hearing loss burden, 9% of asthma and lung cancer burden.

Note that the following visualisation displays only the top 10 linked diseases due to occupational exposures & hazards among Indigenous Australians.

This interactive data visualisation shows the burden attributable to occupational exposures and hazards among Indigenous Australians by linked disease. The main section shows a horizontal bar graph which can be customised to report data according to year, sex and measure of attributable burden. Each bar represents the attributable burden of the disease linked to occupational exposures and hazards.

How did burden attributable to occupational exposures and hazards vary by age and sex?

Burden due to occupational exposures & hazards was estimated among Indigenous Australians aged 15 and over. Total burden among Indigenous Australians increased with age, peaking at ages 45–64 years, then gradually declining with the least amount of burden experienced among those aged 75 and over.

In people aged 15–64 years, the most burden due to occupational exposures & hazards was from back pain & problems, asthma and hearing loss. In ages 65 and over, the most burden due to occupational exposures & hazards was from lung cancer and mesothelioma.

Across all ages, Indigenous males experienced a higher amount of total burden due to occupational exposures & hazards compared with Indigenous females.

This interactive data visualisation shows the amount of burden attributable to occupational exposures and hazards among Indigenous Australians by age group and linked disease. The main section shows a stacked bar graph which can be customised to report data according to year, sex, disease group and measure of attributable burden. Each bar represents the attributable burden within a particular age group. Each bar is also split into separate components with each colour representing a disease linked to occupational exposures and hazards.

How has disease burden due to occupational risks changed over time?

The age-standardised rate of total burden due to occupational exposures & hazards (from all linked diseases) among Indigenous Australians decreased by 7.2% between 2003 and 2018 (from 6.2 to 5.8 DALY per 1,000 population).

This interactive data visualisation shows the rate of burden attributable to occupational exposures and hazards among Indigenous Australians by year. The main section shows a horizontal bar graph which can be customised to report data according to year, sex and measure of attributable burden. Each bar represents the attributable burden within a particular year due to occupational exposures and hazards.

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