Australian workplace deaths reach 13-year high   
The number of workers killed on Australian job sites has risen to a 13-year high, with one cause of death standing out.


News.com.au
October 12, 2026

Australian workplace deaths have risen to a 13-year high, Safe Work Australia’s latest figures show.   

Released on Monday, the latest official numbers show in 2025, 222 workers died on Australian job sites, the most since 2012.

Vehicle collisions remain the most common way a worker is killed, and a worker is eight-times more likely to die in a remote region than in a metro area.

Agriculture, construction, transport, manufacturing, health care, and public administration and safety combined account for 75 per cent of workplace deaths.

Australian Council of Trade Unions assistant secretary Liam O’Brien said 222 deaths was a “shameful and a toll that can’t be allowed to continue”.

“No Australian worker should leave for work and not come back home again at the end of the day because safety wasn’t a high enough priority,” he said.

A worker was killed at Green Star Food Service in Prestons in Sydney’s southwest in July 2025.

The union executive also called out waste management company Cleanaway; eight workers have died at Cleanaway sites since 2022.

“Too often rogue employers, such as Cleanaway, continue to breach safety standards that cost workers their lives. These companies must be held accountable,” Mr O’Brien said.

In response, a Cleanaway spokesperson said during the past three years, the company had accelerated work on a health, safety, and environment strategy and five-year “improvement roadmap”.


“Cleanaway takes compliance with regulatory requirements relating to the operations of facilities very seriously. Protection of the environment and safety are foundations of Cleanaway,” the spokesperson said.

“Following any historical incidents, Cleanaway has carried out full investigations into the root cause. This has given us the opportunity to learn and consider means of prevention in the future.”

Work on the safety strategy had been “supported by strengthened governance, increased capability and financial investment”, they said.

In December, a subcontracted worker was killed at Cleanaway’s Melbourne Regional Landfill on the western suburban edge.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions says eight workers have died at Cleanaway sites since 2022.

“A customer’s truck struck a worker from another customer vehicle. The incident occurred in an area away from the tip face,” a Cleanaway spokesperson said at the time.

Two months earlier, Prabhjot Singh, 27, died at a Cleanaway site in Melbourne’s north.

The new Safe Work figures show while vehicle crashes are the leading cause of workplace deaths, these incidents are spread relatively evenly across farms, mines, worksites or public roads.

In the past decade, mental health claims have increased from 6600 to 17,900.

Mr O’Brien said health care and social workers were becoming more and more a part of the death toll.

“Progress on lowering fatality rates has been made, but over the past few years this has stalled to the point where worker deaths are again trending back upwards,” Mr O’Brien said.

“Governments must immediately agree to and implement Safe Work Australia’s recently concluded best practice review, which will strengthen the rights of workers and their unions to make work safe and lift safety standards.”

BHP Mitsubishi Alliance suspended operations at five Queensland mines for 24 hours in July when a subcontractor was killed at the Peak Downs open-cut coalmine.

The peak union group also called for more powers to investigate dangerous incidents.

“The public expect health and safety regulators who currently have an exclusive monopoly on enforcement to carry out thorough investigations and go after employers that breach safety standards and when they don’t workers and their unions should be able to,” Mr O’Brien said.

Workplace deaths surge to their highest level in a decade   
October 12, 2026 ACTU
Australian Unions are demanding better enforcement of safety standards including prosecutions along with the immediate endorsement and implementation of Safe Work Australia’s Best Practice Review, in response to an increase in the number of workplace deaths, particularly in remote parts of Australia.

Figures from Work Safe Australia released today show that 222 Australian workers were killed at work in 2025, the highest annual death toll in more than a decade since 2012.

Workers in remote Australia are around eight times more likely to be killed at work than the national average, highlighting a significant safety divide between metropolitan and remote Australia.

Six industries account for around three-quarters of workplace fatalities – agriculture, construction, transport, manufacturing, health care and social assistance, and public administration and safety.

Vehicle collisions remain the leading cause of workplace deaths, whether on roads, farms, mines or worksites, tragically continuing to claim more workers’ lives than any other type of fatality with major companies like Cleanaway again recording multiple fatalities over the last 12 months.

Mental health claims have also increased from around 6,600 to 17,900 serious claims over the past decade, making psychological injuries the fastest-growing category of workplace harm and highlighting the ongoing stress that Australian workers are under.

Quotes attributable to ACTU Assistant Secretary, Liam O’Brien:

“The fact that 222 Australian workers were killed at work in 2025 is shameful and a toll that can’t be allowed to continue. No Australian worker should leave for work and not come back home again at the end of the day, because safety wasn’t a high enough priority.

“The public expect health and safety regulators, who currently have an exclusive monopoly on enforcement, to carry out thorough investigations and go after employers that breach safety standards and when they don’t workers and their unions should be able to.

“Too often rogue employers, such as Cleanaway, continue to breach safety standards that cost workers their lives. These companies must be held accountable.

“Progress on lowering fatality rates has been made but over the past few years this has stalled, to the point where worker deaths are again trending back upwards. Governments must immediately agree to and implement Safe Work Australia’s recently concluded Best Practice Review which will strengthen the rights of workers and their unions to make work safe and lift safety standards.

“Workers in agriculture, construction, transport and manufacturing are bearing the greatest toll, with vehicle collisions still the leading cause of death.

“At the same time, health care and social workers, the people who care for those who are sick, injured, ageing or living with disability are increasingly becoming part of the work death statistics. 

“The clear increase in the fatality risk with each step away that workers are from the major cities is also totally unacceptable. Workers’ safety should never depend on a postcode and whether you work in metropolitan or remote Australia.”