Safe Work Australia recently announced the release of four reports based on an analysis of the 2005-06 Work Related Injuries Survey (WRIS). The WRIS is conducted every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as a supplement to the Labour Force Survey. Safe Work Australia partially funds the survey in order to complement its collection of workers' compensation data. The analysis presented in the reports concentrated on groups of people who are either not covered by workers' comp or who are not separately identified in the workers' comp data. The reports includes: 1. Comparison of compensation data with all incurred work-related injuries. 2. The impact of shift work on work-related injuries. 3. The impact of employment conditions on work-related injuries. 4. Factors affecting applications for workers' comp. Some of the key findings in the reports include: 1. Workers' comp data only captures 60% of work-related injuries but it provides a good picture of the industries and occupations with the highest incidence rates, the way in which injuries occur and the types of injury. 2. In most occupations and industries, self-employed workers recorded lower injury rates than employees. 3. Part-time workers recorded twice the injury rate per hour worked of full-time workers. 4. Shift workers had twice the injury rate per hour worked of non-shift workers. 5. Female employees were less likely to apply for workers' comp than male employees. 6. Only 44% of employees without leave entitlements (casual workers) applied for workers' comp for injuries requiring some time off work compared to 57% of employees with leave entitlements. (workersxzcompxzkit) 7. Young workers aged 15 to 24 incurred much higher rates of injury than other age groups and were the least likely to apply for workers' comp. See WCK: https://blog.reduceyourworkerscomp.com/?p=435 The next WRIS covering the period 2009-10 is currently being conducted and Safe Work Australia will publish the findings in 2011. See http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/ for full reports.
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers' Compensation costs, including airlines, health care, manufacturing, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. He can be contacted at: Robert_Elliott@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com or 860-786-8286.
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