New study on workplace electrical injury sparks calls for better training
Monash University
Better electrical hazards training is needed to address the serious burden of workplace electrical injury, according to new research from Monash University.
National injury surveillance and workers’ compensation data shows that more than 400 serious claims are made in Australia each year due to electric shocks at work, and electrical contact consistently ranks among the top ten causes of occupational fatality.
New research, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, found manufacturing workers accounted for around one in five of the 285 accepted workplace compensation claims lodged for electrical injuries in Victoria between 2018-19 and 2022-23.
Construction, which includes electrical services, accounted for 16.1 per cent of these claims.
By occupation, electrotechnology and telecommunications trades workers lodged the most electrical injury claims at 16.5 per cent, followed closely by labourers such as freight handlers and shelf fillers at 13 per cent.
Lead researcher Dr Dee Tomic, from the Monash Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health at the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, compiled the findings after analysing coroner-reported deaths, emergency department presentations, hospital admissions and workers’ compensation claims between 2018 and 2024.
She said the findings showed many of those affected had likely never been trained to work around electricity.
“There is an assumption that electrical injury is an electrician’s problem, but a large share of these injuries are happening to workers who have most likely never been trained to work around electricity,” Dr Tomic said.
“Electricians are exposed more often, but they also work within stricter safety systems.
“Other workers may encounter live electrical equipment unpredictably and without that protection, which really highlights the need for improved training to prevent further injury.”
The study found 2,516 emergency department presentations and 313 hospital admissions for work-related electrical injuries were recorded in Victoria between 2018–19 and 2023–24.
Workers aged 15 to 24 years had the highest emergency department presentation rate at 21.6 per 100,000 workers, and men accounted for 81.7 per cent of emergency department presentations.
Dr Tomic said that the figures are likely to underestimate the true burden, as none of the administrative datasets used were designed to capture electrical injury specifically, so cases may be missed where the injury was not correctly attributed.
The four data sources are also unlinked, meaning the same worker may appear in more than one dataset and the counts cannot be added together.
“Linking these data sources, and capturing the circumstances in which each injury occurs, would give us a much clearer picture of where safety systems are breaking down,” Dr Tomic said.”
Dr Tomic called for targeted safety induction for young and early-career workers, extending electrical hazard awareness training into industries that are not traditionally seen as high risk, and better follow-up after injury.
"While electrical injuries are less common than many other workplace injuries, they are associated with disproportionately severe outcomes, including burns, cardiac and neurological complications, and death," Dr Tomic said.
“Almost all workplace electrical injuries are preventable. This is something that we can and absolutely should address, because everyone deserves to come home from work safe and unharmed.
“Workplace safety regulators and policy-makers must do better by those who work around live electrical equipment.”
Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin, Public Health Association of Australia Chief Executive Officer, welcomed the research and highlighted the need for training reform.
“This data is unlikely to be unique to Victoria and highlights a national problem,” Adjunct Professor Slevin said.
“Everyone has the right to expect to come home safe and healthy at the end of the work day and Australia must do more to prevent workplace injuries.
“An expansion of the reach of training on working safely around electricity must be a priority across all industries, including those not traditionally seen as high risk .”
Read the research paper: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anzjph.2026.100586
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