Official figures reveal that riding a desk on Capital Hill with the Department of Parliamentary Services is riskier than battling crims with the Australian Federal Police or taking to the high seas with the Customs service.

The data from federal workplace insurer Comcare shows parliamentary officials get work-related sicknesses and injuries at more than four times the average rate of similar sized departments.

The department acknowledges it copped a high proportion of claims in 2013-14 but pointed out they were nearly all minor and very few required much time off work.

And the giant building's hyper-polished wood and marble floors have been identified as a clear and present danger: most of the department's Comcare incidents came down to minor trips, slips and falls.

A department spokesperson said a majority of claims were received from trades-related and security areas of the department, which represent about one-third of the department's staffing numbers.

The spokesperson said the department was "strongly committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for its employees" and said its average workers' compensation claim was relatively minor, costing only 32 per cent of the average Comcare claim.

The Comcare data shows that only the federal police and the Customs and Border Protection Service come near the department as workplaces hazardous to the health.

The Department of Parliamentary Services recorded 34 workers' comp claims per 1000 staff last year, three-and-half times the average rate for similar sized outfits. "Frontline" operational services like the AFP and Customs each recorded 27 accepted claims per 1000 workers.

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Customs and the federal police have consistently said that work-related injuries and illnesses are an inevitable part of the work they undertake.

The Agriculture Department, another surprisingly perilous workplace with 17 claims per 1000 full-time staff in 2013-14, also says its "highly operational" workforce faces risks that are not encountered in most public service offices.

The Comcare data also reveals that some departments cop deluxe compensation claims costing up to two-and-half times the amount of other, more downmarket agencies.

The giant Department of Human Services, the workhorse of the federal government's service delivery effort with about 34,000 workers, recorded claims worth about $39 million in 2013-14 or about $1150 per worker.

But the Finance Department, an elite "central agency", had claims worth $4.9 million with just 1800 public servants, or more than $2700 for each public servant.

A Finance spokeswoman pointed out that the actual number of claims in 2013-14 was quite low, at 4.8 per 1000 full time workers.

She said the large bill was due to Finance having to carry the burden of ongoing compensation payments its former workers, as well ex-parliamentary staffers, and even ex-bureaucrats from the long-abolished Department of Administrative Services.

"That amount is the payment made in that year for all active claims managed by the Department of Finance, including current and former Department of Finance staff and Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 staff and ex-Department of Administrative Services employees," the spokeswoman said.

"It is not limited to the 4.8 claims accepted in that year."