6324.0.55.001 - Technical Manual: Work Related Injuries, Expanded CURF, Australia, 2009-10 Quality Declaration 
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  • Quality Declaration-Summary

QUALITY DECLARATION - SUMMARY


INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURFs) are released in accordance with the conditions specified in the Statistics Determination section of the Census and Statistics Act 1905 (CSA). This ensures that confidentiality is maintained whilst enabling micro level data to be released. More information on the confidentiality practices associated with CURFs can be found in How is CURF data confidentialised?.

For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment.


RELEVANCE

The Multipurpose Household Survey (MPHS) is a supplement to the monthly ABS Labour Force Survey (LFS) and is designed to provide annual statistics for a number of small, self-contained topics. Information is collected from one person selected at random in each selected household. This Expanded CURF, from the 2009–10 MPHS, contains microdata for the Work Related Injuries topic.

The Work Related Injuries Survey provides detailed information about people who worked at some time in the last 12 months who experienced a work related injury or illness during the 12 month period prior to enumeration.

The data collected in the survey includes the type of injury or illness experienced, how it occurred, the number of days or shifts absent from work due to their work related injury or illness, whether financial assistance or workers' compensation was sought, whether information about OH&S training was received and whether this was undertaken prior to the injury or illness occurring. The data collected can be cross-classified by a range of demographic characteristics such as age, sex, marital status, country of birth, standard education and income information, as well as labour force characteristics.

The Work Related Injuries topic collects information about the following three populations:

  • People aged 15 years and over who worked at some time during the last 12 months;
  • People aged 15 years and over who worked at some time during the last 12 months and experienced a work related injury or illness in that period; and
  • People aged 15 years and over who were employed in the reference week.

Information describing the level of detail provided on the CURF can be referenced in the data item list, which accompanies this technical manual in an excel spreadsheet.


TIMELINESS

The 2009–10 MPHS sample was accumulated over the twelve month period from July 2009 to June 2010. Initial summary results from the survey were published on 13 December 2010 in the following publication: Work Related Injuries, Australia, 2009-10 (cat. no. 6324.0)

The CURF is generally released around two to three months after the release of an initial summary publication.


ACCURACY

The Work Related Injuries CURF contains individual person level data (unit records or microdata). Microdata are the most detailed information available from a survey and are the answers to most individual questions on the questionnaire or the data derived from the responses to two or more questions. Consequently, the CURF contains much finer levels of detail for most data items than what is otherwise published. For more information on the level of detail provided in the CURF, please refer to the data item list, which accompanies this technical manual in an excel spreadsheet.

Steps to confidentialise the data made available on the CURF have been taken in such a way so as to maximise the usefulness of the content while at the same time maintaining the confidentiality of the respondents in the survey. As a result, it may not be possible to exactly reconcile all the statistics produced from the CURF with published statistics.

All sample surveys are subject to error which can be broadly categorised as either sampling error or non-sampling error.

Sampling error occurs because a sample, rather than the entire population, is surveyed. One measure of the likely difference resulting from not including all dwellings in the survey is given by the standard error. There are about two chances in three that a sample estimate will differ by less than one standard error from the figure that would have been obtained if all dwellings had been included in the survey, and about nineteen chances in twenty that the difference will be less than two standard errors.

Non-sampling error arises from inaccuracies in collecting, recording and processing the data. Every effort is made to minimise reporting error by the careful design of questionnaires, intensive training and supervision of interviewers, and efficient data processing procedures. Non-sampling error also arises because information cannot be obtained from all persons selected in the survey.

For more information on the survey methodology, concepts and definitions see Technical Manual: Work Related Injuries,Expanded CURF, Australia, (cat. no 6324.0.55.001).


COHERENCE

Work Related Injuries data was previously collected in the 2005–06 MPHS and most of the questions relating to Work Related Injuries asked in 2005-06 have been repeated in 2009-10. Therefore, because a similar methodology has been adopted for both surveys, data on the prevalence and details of work related injuries and illnesses are comparable across these two periods.

Further key changes made to the collection methodology of the Work Related Injuries Survey are reflected in the 2005-06 and 2009-10 publications. For more information on changes to the survey see Chapter 21.15 of Labour Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 6102.0.55.001).

The Explanatory Notes section in each of the summary publications provides further information about the comparability of each topic over time. Microdata from the 2005–06 MPHS were released in February 2007 (Microdata: Multipurpose Household Survey, Expanded CURF, Australia, 2005–06 (cat. no. 4100.0.55.001)).


INTERPRETABILITY

The Technical Manual: Work Related Injuries, Expanded CURF, Australia, 2009–10 (cat. no. 6324.0.55.001) is the key source for reference when using the CURF. It includes information about survey objectives, methods and design; survey content; data quality and interpretation; information about comparability with previous surveys; and the content of the CURF files. The Excel spreadsheet that accompanies the Technical Manual contains a complete list of all the data items included on the CURF. Further information about the survey can also be found in the Explanatory Notes section in each of the summary publications:

Information about administrative data is available in Compendium of Workers' Compensation Statistics Australia 2007-08.


ACCESSIBILITY

CURFs can only be accessed by organisations or individuals who have been given prior approval by the ABS. An application to access a particular CURF can be submitted through the ABS's secure on-line CURF application and management system MiCRO. Information about the steps required to apply for CURF access is provided in Technical Manual: Managing ABS Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURFs): a Step by Step Guide, Aug 2009 (cat. no. 1406.0.55.004). All CURF users are required to read and abide by the 'Responsible Access to ABS Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURFs) Training Manual' (cat. no. 1406.0.55.003). A full list of all available CURFs can be viewed via the 'List of Available CURFs'.

The Work Related Injuries Expanded CURF can be accessed through the ABS Remote Access Data Laboratory (RADL) or the ABS Data Laboratory (ABSDL). Further details regarding types and modes of access to CURFs can be found in CURF Access Modes and Levels of Detail.

The CURF Microdata Entry page contains links to all the information required for understanding and accessing CURFs. However, if other information is required, please contact the Microdata Access Strategies Section of the ABS at <email: <microdata.access@abs.gov.au> or phone: (02) 6252 7714.