The latest actuarial calculations of employment risk used to determine workers' compensation premiums in the ACT have remained largely steady since figures were first published three years ago, but show a 1.5 per cent increase for construction jobs this year.

The new rates for more than 300 occupations are calculated by an independent actuary for the ACT government and compiled in a schedule, Suggested Reasonable Premium Rates 2013-14, which was published this month.

ACT employers paid an average insurance premium of about 2.5 per cent of wages in 2011-12, similar to each year since 2008-09. But indicative insurance premiums for construction have risen 1.5 percentage points this year to 11.9 per cent - up from 10.4 per cent last year and 9.9 per cent the year before.

The rates act as a guide to insurers in negotiating premiums with employers for the next financial year beginning on July 1.

The territory's workers' compensation scheme provides insurance protection to about 16,000 employers and 120,000 workers and pays more than $100 million each year on medical, rehabilitation and return-to-work services.

The construction industry made up about 10 per cent of the scheme by size in 2011-12, but contributed 21 per cent of all claims. There were 741 construction industry workers injured on duty this year, an increase of 15 per cent, while four men died in 2012.

ACT Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe said the new figures were an indictment of construction safety standards in the ACT as premiums reflected the increasing costs of covering workers injured in each particular industry. ''And none of this includes the human cost of a serious injury,'' he said.

According to the independent inquiry into construction industry safety in the ACT, Getting Home Safely, for every dollar spent on workers' compensation, another $4 were required in indirect costs arising from an accident.

While it was difficult to compare workers' compensations schemes around the country as some were government run and some - such as the ACT's - were run by the insurance companies, Mr McCabe said ACT construction industry insurance rates were likely to be the highest in the country.

''We already know we have the highest serious injury rate in the country, so it's a logical assumption our construction industry is also paying the highest premiums.''

He expressed concern that these costs would be passed on to consumers, who would have to pay more for housing or business building.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union's ACT secretary Dean Hall said it was no surprise to see construction premiums come in so high. He said this year's suggested schedule also shone a stark light on the civil construction industry.

While a bricklayer, concreter or roofer had a workers' compensation premium of 11.89 per cent, an electrical supply worker had a premium of just 1.66 per cent, he said.

It was also much safer to design a building than to erect it, with architecture and engineering consultants having the lowest insurance rate of any profession in the ACT, of just 0.36 per cent.

''Frankly, I find it difficult to believe it is safer to be an electrical supply worker, climbing up those massive distribution towers and working with live power, than it is to pour concrete,'' Mr Hall said.

''You'd think on the face of it, the risk profile of electrical supply would blow away civil construction, when it is the reverse.''

He attributed the relative safety of electrical supply to ActewAGL's commitment to its workforce and high-quality safety training.

''They have a full-time permanent workforce they value and invest in, compared with civil construction, where workers are just a unit of labour,'' Mr Hall said.