What the registry is
The National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry stores data on occupational respiratory diseases in Australia.
Occupational respiratory diseases are respiratory diseases caused by hazards in a person's work or workplace.
The National Dust Disease Taskforce recommended a registry to:
- understand how common and widespread occupational respiratory diseases are
- help reduce worker exposure.
In April 2022 the Australian and state and territory governments released their response to the final report of the National Dust Disease Taskforce.
All governments have committed to:
- reducing silicosis and other dust diseases among workers
- improving the quality of life for people affected and their families.
Goals
The registry aims to capture and share data on workplace exposures and the number of occupational respiratory diseases in Australia. This will help us to:
- detect new and emerging threats to the health of workers
- understand the nature and extent of occupational respiratory diseases in Australia and their trends over time
- identify the industries, occupations, job tasks and workplaces that are at risk
- use targeted early intervention and prevention activities to reduce worker exposure and disease
- enhance preventative policy development, programs and decision making
- plan, deliver and promote health care and related services for occupational respiratory diseases
- share information with healthcare providers when providing occupational respiratory diseases related health care
- support research projects and identify opportunities for clinical trials or observations.
Status
The National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 22 November 2023.
The National Occupational Respiratory Disease Registry will launch on 22 May 2024.
Use of registry information
We will share information in the registry with state and territory health agencies and work health and safety agencies.
They can use this data to:
- understand how widespread occupational respiratory diseases are in their state or territory
- help decide on ways to reduce worker exposure.
The information will also be available to ethics committee approved research projects to support occupational respiratory diseases research into:
- the nature of occupational respiratory diseases and their risk factors
- incidence, prevalence and trends
- ways to reduce the risks to workers.
We will publish annual statistics on the number and types of occupational respiratory disease notifications collected in the National Registry. This will not include any personal information.
Existing state registers
State and territory representatives took part in the registry design process to align the data items and diseases with existing registers.
The national registry will not override existing state occupational disease registers. It will align with existing state registers to ensure a smooth transition for physicians.
Contact
