These researchers retrospectively reviewed trauma registry records for adults (≥15 years) admitted to 4 hospitals in New Zealand’s Midland Trauma System (MTS) as a result of work-related injuries (WRI) between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2015. A total of 2,169 WRI trauma admissions were analysed for patterns of injury incidence by demographic characteristics, employment industry, mechanism of injury, body regions injured, injury severity score, month, day and time of injury, duration of hospital stay, domicile District Health Board, and discharge destination. These admissions corresponded to an annualised rate of 205.8 per 100,000 workers or 234.3 per 100,000 full-time employment employees (FTE). The highest injury rates were observed for males (238.0 per 100,000 workers) and those aged 15–24 years (227.1 per 100,000 workers); the rates were lowest for Asians (83 per 100,000 workers). The industries with the highest injury rates included the ‘agriculture/forestry/fishing’, ‘manufacturing’, and ‘transport/postal/warehousing’ industries. The most common mechanism of injury was ‘Contact with machinery’, and the most common body region injured was the ‘extremities or pelvic girdle’. The in-hospital case fatality rate was <0.5%.
