Counting the cost of work-related injuries and diseases in poultry farming in New South Wales.

This article describes the extent of, and trends in, workrelated injuries and diseases in poultry farming in NSW, using new major claims data from the Workers’ Compensation Scheme over a nine-year period (1991– 1992 to 1999–2000) for the analysis. Poultry farming, which includes industries that produce poultry for meat and poultry for eggs, was the fifth largest rural industry in NSW in 1999–2000, employing about 3700 workers or three per cent of the total workforce in the rural industry sector. New major claims are claims where the result of injury was death, permanent disability, or temporary disability with five or more days being paid for total incapacity, and which have been entered into the insurer’s database in the relevant year. COUNTING THE COST OF WORK-RELATED INJURIES AND DISEASES IN POULTRY FARMING IN NEW SOUTH WALES