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Comparative Performance Monitoring
Report
Comparison of work health and safety and workers
compensation schemes in Australia and New Zealand13th Edition
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SAFE WORK AUSTRALIA
Comparative PerformanceMonitoring Report
Comparison of work health and safety andworkers compensation schemes
in Australia and New Zealand
Thirteenth EditionOctober 2011
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Commonwealth of Australia (Safe Work Australia) 2011.
DISCLAIMER
The information provided in this document can only assist you in the mostgeneral way. This document does not replace any statutory requirements
under any relevant State and Territory legislation. Safe Work Australia acceptsno liability arising from the use of or reliance on the material contained inthis document, which is provided on the basis that Safe Work Australia isnot thereby engaged in rendering professional advice. Before relying onthe material, users should carefully make their own assessment as to itsaccuracy, currency, completeness and relevance for their purposes, andshould obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particularcircumstances. To the extent that the material in this document includes viewsor recommendations of third parties, such views or recommendations do notnecessarily reect the views of Safe Work Australia nor do they indicate acommitment to a particular course of action.
ISBN No. 978-0-642-33221-9 [PRINT] 978-0-642-33222-6 [PDF]
978-0-642-33217-2 [RTF]
Creative Commons
With the exception of the Safe Work Australia logo, this report is licensed by
Safe Work Australia under a Creative Commons 3.0 Australia Licence. To viewa copy of this licence, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/deed.en
In essence, you are free to copy, communicate and adapt the work, as long asyou attribute the work to Safe Work Australia and abide by the other licensingterms. The report should be attributed as the Comparative PerformanceMonitoring Report 13th Edition.
Enquiries regarding the licence and any use of the report are welcome at:
Copyright OfcerCommunications, IT and Knowledge ManagementSafe Work AustraliaGPO Box 641 Canberra ACT 2601
Email: [email protected]
Important Notice
Safe Work Australia provides the information given in this document to improvepublic access to information about work health and safety information generally.The vision of Safe Work Australia is Australian workplaces free from injury
and disease. Its mission is to lead and coordinate national efforts to preventworkplace death, injury and disease in Australia.
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Comparative Performance Monitoring 200910 iii
Foreword
The Labour Ministers Council released the rst Comparative Performance Monitoring(CPM) report in December 1998. The CPM project was transferred to Safe Work
Australia when it was established. The CPM reports provide trend analysis on the workhealth and safety and workers compensation schemes operating in Australia and New
Zealand. Information in the report is designed to help gauge the success of differentapproaches undertaken by the various workers compensation and work health andsafety authorities to reduce the incidence of work-related injury and disease. This is thethirteenth annual report of the CPM project.
The CPM is complemented by the Compendium of Workers Compensation Statistics,which provides more detailed analysis of national workers compensation data usingkey variables such as occupation, industry, age and gender with supporting informationon the circumstances surrounding work-related injury and disease occurrences. TheCompendium series can be found at safeworkaustralia.gov.au.
Statement of purpose
Provide measurable information to support policy making and program development bygovernments on work health and safety and workers compensation, to meet the goalof Australian and New Zealand workplaces free from injury and disease and to enabledurable return to work and rehabilitation for injured and ill workers. The informationshould provide:
(a) measurement of progress against national strategies
(b) identication of factors contributing to improved work health and safety andworkers compensation performance (which includes consideration ofresources), and
(c) measurement of changes in work health and safety and workers compensation
over time, including benchmarking where appropriate.
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iv Safe Work Australia
Data
Data used in this report were most recently supplied by jurisdictions for the 200910nancial year plus updates back to 200506. Readers should be aware that datapresented here may differ from jurisdictional annual reports due to the use of differentdenitions and the application of adjustment factors to aid the comparability of data.Explanatory commentary on the data items are contained within each chapter with
additional information included in Appendix 1 - Explanatory Notes, at the end of thispublication.
Data for this report are collected from:
the various workers compensation schemes and work health and safetyauthorities as follows:
- New South Wales WorkCover New South Wales- Victoria WorkSafe Victoria- Queensland Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, Department of
Justice and Attorney General, Q-COMP and WorkCover Queensland
- Western Australia WorkCover Western Australia and WorkSafe Division,Department of Commerce
- South Australia WorkCover Corporation South Australia and SafeWork SA- Tasmania Workplace Standards Tasmania and WorkCover Tasmania- Northern Territory NT WorkSafe and Department of Justice- Australian Capital Territory WorkSafe ACT and the Ofce of Regulatory
Services within the Department of Justice and Community Services
- Australian Government Comcare- Seacare Seacare Authority (Seafarers Safety, Rehabilitation and
Compensation Authority), and
- New Zealand Accident Rehabilitation and Compensation InsuranceCorporation and New Zealand Department of Labour
the Australian Heads of Workers Compensation Authorities Return to WorkMonitor, the full results of which can be accessed at hwca.org.au/reports_rtw.phpand,
the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which provides denominator data, basedon the Labour Force Survey, the Survey of Employment and Earnings and theSurvey of Employment, Earnings and Hours.
Coordination
This report has been compiled and coordinated by Safe Work Australia with assistancefrom representatives of all work health and safety and workers compensation
authorities in Australia and New Zealand.Through a partnership of governments, employers and employees, Safe WorkAustralia drives national policy development on work health and safety and workerscompensation matters to:
achieve signicant and continual reductions in the incidence of death, injury anddisease in the workplace
achieve national uniformity of the work health and safety legislative frameworkcomplemented by a nationally consistent approach to compliance policy andenforcement policy, and
improve national workers compensation arrangements.
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Comparative Performance Monitoring 200910 v
Contents
Foreword ...................................................................................... III
Summary of ndings.................................................................... VII
Chapter 1 Progress against the National OHS Strategy .............1
Injury and musculoskeletal target .............................................................................. 2Jurisdictional progress ............................................................................................... 2Fatalities target ...........................................................................................................3International comparison ............................................................................................ 4
Chapter 2 Work health and safety performance ......................... 6
Serious claims ............................................................................................................6Long term claims .......................................................................................................8
Duration of absence ...................................................................................................9Compensated fatalities .............................................................................................10Notied fatalities ....................................................................................................... 12Work-related traumatic injury fatalities .....................................................................13Claims by mechanism of injury/disease ................................................................... 14Claims by size of business .......................................................................................15
Chapter 3 Work health and safety compliance and enforcementactivities .......................................................................................17
Chapter 4 Workers compensation premiums and entitlements . 23Standardised average premium rates.....................................................................................23Entitlements under workers compensation .............................................................. 25
Chapter 5 Workers compensation scheme performance......... 29
Assets to liabilities ratio ............................................................................................29Scheme expenditure ................................................................................................ 32Durable return to work .............................................................................................. 36Disputation rate ........................................................................................................ 37Dispute resolution .....................................................................................................39
Chapter 6 Industry information ..................................................41Claims by industry .................................................................................................... 41Premium rates by industry ........................................................................................ 41
Appendix 1 Explanatory notes .................................................. 44
Appendix 2 Key features of Australian Workers CompensationSchemes ................................................................ 56
Appendix 3 Jurisdictional contact information ..........................58
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Comparative Performance Monitoring 200910 vii
Summary of ndings
Performance against the National OHS Strategy 20022012The reduction in the incidence rate of injury and musculoskeletal claims between thebase period (200001 to 200203) and 200910 was 25%, which is below the raterequired to meet the 20022012 National OHS Strategytarget of a 40% improvement
by 30 June 2012. South Australia was the only jurisdiction which met the required rateof improvement with 39% improvement. Seacare and the Australian Capital Territorywere the only jurisdictions to record an increase in the incidence of serious injury andmusculoskeletal claims from the base period.
The number of compensated fatalities recorded for 200910 is lower than in previousyears, increasing the percentage improvement from the base period. The incidenceof compensated fatalities from injury and musculoskeletal disorders decreased by42% from the base period to 200910. The national incidence rate has exceeded the20% reduction required by 30 June 2012, however there is a considerable amount ofvolatility in this measure and consistent improvement is required.
The National OHS Strategy also includes an aspirational target for Australia to have thelowest work-related traumatic fatality rate in the world by 2009.Analysis of internationaldata indicates that in 200709, Australia recorded the seventh lowest injury fatality rate.
Australias work-related fatality rate decreased from 200103 to 200406, and hasincreased slightly during 200507 to 200608 to decrease again in 200709. Australiadid not meet this target.
Work health and safety performanceThere has been a fall of 9% in the rate of serious injury and disease claims over thepast four years from 14.9 serious claims per 1000 employees reported in 200506to 13.5 serious claims per 1000 employees reported in 200809. The preliminaryworkers compensation claims data for Australia indicate that in 200910 the incidenceof serious injury and disease claims was 12.6 serious claims per 1000 employees. Itis expected that this rate will increase by around 2% when the liability on all the claimssubmitted in 200910 is determined.
There have been 194 compensated fatalities recorded so far for Australia for 200910,of which 136 were from injury and musculoskeletal disorders and 58 were from otherdiseases. It is expected that this number will rise slightly when all claims are processed.The number of compensated fatalities decreased from 294 recorded in 200506 to 254recorded in 200809.
The preliminary workers compensation claims data for New Zealand indicate that in200910 the incidence of serious injury and disease claims was 10.7 serious claims
per 1000 employees. New Zealand recorded a 11% decrease in incidence rates from200506 to 200809.
There were 101 compensated fatalities in New Zealand in 200910. This represents a16% drop since 200506.
Body stressingcontinued to be the mechanism of injury/disease which accounted forthe greatest proportion of claims (41%). Claim numbers for this group have decreasedby 9% since 200506. This mechanism is receiving attention under the National OHSStrategy. Claims forSound & pressure recorded the largest increase of all mechanismgroups: 43% over the period from 200506 to 200910. However, these claimsrepresented only 4% of all serious claims in 200910.
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viii Safe Work Australia
Summary of ndings
The highest incidence rate was recorded in the Transport & storage industry (23.9serious claims per 1000 employees) followed by the Manufacturing industry (22.1)and the Agriculture, forestry & shing industry (21.6), while the Construction industryrecorded a rate of 18.0 claims per 1000 employees.These industries together with theHealth & community services industry are receiving attention under the National OHSStrategy.
In 200910 close to 200 000 workplace interventions were undertaken by work healthand safety authorities around Australia. Australian jurisdictions issued 63 000 notices,448 legal proceedings against businesses were nalised and $19 million in nes werehanded out by the courts.
Workers compensation scheme performance
Australias standardised average premium rate fell 24% from 2.01% of payroll in200506 to 1.53% of payroll in 200910. All Australian jurisdictions recorded falls overthis period. The Australian Government scheme recorded the lowest premium rate ofall jurisdictions at 0.93% of payroll in 200910, while the Seacare scheme recorded the
highest premium rate at 3.59% of payroll.
The New Zealand standardised average premium rate was 0.93% of payroll in200910, a 9% increase from the previous year. The New Zealand rate remainslower than Australias rate. One reason for the lower rate in New Zealand is that itdoes not provide the same level of coverage for mental disorders as the Australianschemes provide.
In 200910 the Australian average funding ratio for centrally funded schemes droppedto 101% from 105% in 200809. This decrease was mainly the result of an 11% dropin the funding ratio of the Queensland scheme. The Australian average funding ratio forprivately underwritten schemes has fallen to 108% from 115% in 200809 Tasmania
recorded a decrease from 134% to 118% during this period.In 200910, Australian workers compensation schemes spent $7 302 million, of which56% was paid direct to the injured worker in compensation for their injury or illness and22% was spent on medical and other services costs. Insurance operations expensesmade up 17% of the total expenditure by schemes, down from 23% in 200506.Regulation costs made up 1.5% of total scheme expenditure, while dispute resolutionexpenses accounted for 1.1% and other administration expenses accounted for 1.9%.
The 200910 durable return to work rate increased from last year with 75% of workersreturning to work in 200910 following a work-related injury or disease. This islower than the peak of 80% seen in 200506. Victoria and Queensland recorded themost substantial increase in the durable return to work rate (6% and 5% increaserespectively); improvements were also recorded in Tasmania, New South Wales andSouth Australia. Comcare, the Northern Territory and Seacare recorded a drop in thedurable return to work rate (7%, 4% and 5% decrease respectively).
The rate of disputation on claims remained steady at 4.7% of all claims lodged in200910 compared to 200809. South Australia recorded the greatest differenceduring this time, decreasing from 9.4% to 6.9%. While the percentage of disputesresolved within 3, 6 and 9 months remained stable during the past ve years, therewas an 11% increase in the proportion of disputes resolved within one month.
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Comparative Performance Monitoring 200910 1
Chapter 1 Progress against the National OHS Strategy
The National OHS Strategy provides the framework for collective efforts to improveAustralias work health and safety performance. The National OHS Strategy set
national targets to reduce the incidence of work-related injury fatalities by at least 20%and reduce the incidence of workplace injury (including musculoskeletal disorders) byat least 40% by 30 June 2012.
A standard denition of serious claims due to injury or musculoskeletal disordershas been used for analysis to enable greater comparability between jurisdictions.Serious claims include all fatalities, all permanent incapacity claims (as dened by thejurisdictions) and temporary claims for which one or more weeks of compensation hasbeen recorded. This denition takes into account the different employer excesses thatexist in the various schemes.
Achievements against the national targets for injury and fatality are measured usingthe National Data Set for Compensation-based Statistics (NDS). The baseline for the
national targets is taken from the data for the three-year period 200001 to 200203.This move was motivated by the desire to publish jurisdictional level data where oneyear of data may not be typical. A three-year base period smooths much of this volatility,resulting in a more typical starting point at which to measure progress against thetargets. While the base period data are considered stable, revisions are likely for themore recent years. To ensure a more accurate measure of improvement is calculated,the most recent year of data have been projected forward to indicate the likelyincidence rate once updated data are received.
Since its adoption in May 2002, the National OHS Strategy has informed the workand strategic plans of all Australian work health and safety authorities as well asdriving the work of Safe Work Australia in the area of work health and safety. SafeWork Australia is working to achieve the goals of the National OHS Strategy througha variety of means including driving national harmonisation of work health and safetylegislation, developing a compliance and enforcement policy to ensure nationallyconsistent regulatory approaches across all jurisdictions, encouraging excellence inwork health and safety through the National Safe Work Australia Awards and improvingthe collection and analysis of work health and safety data and research to inform thedevelopment or evaluation of work health and safety policies and programs.
National compliance and intervention campaigns initiated by the Heads of WorkplaceSafety Authorities (HWSA) demonstrate the continuation of coordinated nationalprograms relating to the priority injury risks and industries under the National OHS
Strategy. National campaigns undertaken in recent years covered a range of areasincluding: Safe Steps campaign (targeting manual handling and slips and trips inhospitals); Forklift safety in primary industries; Construction scaffolding campaign; andNew and young workers in hospitality
Campaigns currently being implemented by HWSA are targeting: Worker safety on ornear public roads; Safe design, manufacture and supply of plant; and Quad bike safety.
Further information about HWSA campaigns can be found on its website www.hwsa.org.au.
All parties to the National OHS Strategy are committed to achieving a steadyimprovement in work health and safety practices and performance and a corresponding
decline in both incidence and severity of work-related injuries.
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2 Safe Work Australia
Progress against the National OHS Strategy
Injury and musculoskeletal target
Indicator 1 shows there was a 25% decrease in the incidence rate of injury andmusculoskeletal claims between the base period (200001 to 200203) and theprojected 200910 data, which is still below the rate of 32% improvement required to
meet the long term target of a 40% improvement by 30 June 2012. It is unlikely thatAustralia will meet the target.
Indicator 1 Incidence rate of serious* compensated injury and musculoskeletal claims,Australia, base period (200001 to 200203) to 200910
* Includes accepted workers compensation claims for temporary incapacity involving one or more weeks compensationplus all claims for fatality and permanent incapacity.
Jurisdictional progress
Indicator 2 shows how the jurisdictions are progressing towards the injury target. Tobe on target, jurisdictions would need to have recorded a 32% improvement from thebase period.
The Tasmanian data for 200910 has been affected by an issue with the lodgementof lost time data by some Agencies within the Tasmanian State Service. The data hasbeen supplied as at 30 November 2010 for some claims and as at 30 June 2011 forothers. Caution should be taken when comparing Tasmanian data in this Chapter andin Chapter two to previous years data or data from other jurisdictions.
Only South Australia exceeded the required rate of improvement to meet the target. Allother jurisdictions with the exception of the Australian Capital Territory and Seacare
recorded decreases in incidence rates since the introduction of the National OHSStrategy.
Changes to scheme operations since the base period can affect the percentageimprovements shown in this indicator. Achievement of the target may be more difcultin the Australian Capital Territory Private Scheme due to reforms introduced during thebase period that resulted in a higher level of reporting of claims since 200102.
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
baseperiod
2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12
Claims
per1000employees
Actual Reduction required to meet target Projection
Actual 14.78 14.39 14.16 13.82 12.90 12.40 12.10 11.62 10.77
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Comparative Performance Monitoring 200910 3
Indicator 2 Incidence rates (serious claims per 1000 employees) and percentageimprovement of serious* compensated injury and musculoskeletal claims by jurisdiction.
JurisdictionBase
period200607 200708 200809
200910Preliminary
200910projected
Percentageimprovement
(%)**
South Australia 18.3 14.6 12.4 11.4 10.7 11.2 38.8
New South Wales 17.1 12.6 12.6 12.4 11.8 12.2 28.7
Victoria 11.3 9.5 9.0 8.6 7.9. 8.1 28.3
Australian Government 8.8 6.9 5.5 6.7 5.9 6.4 27.3
Queensland 16.6 15.9 16.3 15.0 13.6 13.8 16.9
Tasmania 16.2 15.7 14.7 14.8 13.4 13.7 12.3
Western Australia 12.5 12.3 12.3 11.7 10.5 11.0 12.0
Northern Territory 12.4 11.4 12.1 11.0 10.7 11.2 9.7
Australian Capital Territory 11.4 11.6 11.5 11.9 11.9 12.2 -7.0
Seacare 36.3 27.1 26.8 34.3 36.6 36.6 -0.8
Australia 14.8 12.4 12.1 11.6 10.8 11.1 25.0
*Includes accepted workers compensation claims for temporary incapacity involving one or more weeks compensationplus all claims for fatality and permanent incapacity.** Percentage improvement from base period (200001 to 200203) to 200910 projected.
Fatalities target
Indicator 3 shows progress towards the fatalities target. The substantial drop in thenumber of fatalities for New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia in 200910resulted in a 25% decrease in the Australian incidence rate from the previous year.Since the base period, there has been a 42% decrease in the incidence rate ofcompensated injury plus musculoskeletal claims. This improvement is more than twicethe required result to meet the target of a 20% reduction by 30 June 2012. The volatilityin this measure means that this improvement should be interpreted with caution andconsistent improvement is still required to ensure the target is actually achieved.
Note that a table of jurisdictional improvements in fatalities has not been included dueto the volatility of these data. Information on the number of fatalities recorded by eachjurisdiction can be found in Indicator 10.
Indicator 3 Incidence rates of compensated injury & musculoskeletal fatalities,Australia, base period (200001 to 200203) to 200910
1.20
1.40
1.60
1.80
2.00
2.20
2.40
2.60
2.80
baseperiod
2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12
Claimsper100000employees
Actual Reduction required to meet target Projection
Actual 2.44 2.30 2.09 2.07 2.14 2.09 2.22 1.88 1.34
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Progress against the National OHS Strategy
International comparison
Following the rst triennial review of the National OHS Strategy, the WorkplaceRelations Ministers Council (WRMC) adopted an additional aspirational goal of havingthe lowest rate of traumatic fatalities in the world by 2009. Analysis of injury fatality datausing information published on the International Labor Ofce (ILO) website at laborsta.ilo.orgwas undertaken in 2004. The results of this analysis were published in a report titledFatal Occupational Injuries How does Australia compare internationally?, which canbe accessed atsafeworkaustralia.gov.au/swa/AboutUs/Publications/.
The aim of this report was to obtain a measure of the gap in performance betweenAustralia and the best performing countries. Countries were included in this analysisif they had a lower incidence rate of fatalities than Australia as reported to the ILO.This resulted in most of the countries included in this comparison being European.The analysis undertaken in the report only used fatalities from injuries, makingadjustments where possible for differences in scope and coverage. The data were thenstandardised against Australia to take account of different industry mixes and nallya three-year average was calculated to remove some of the volatility that results from
working with small numbers.This methodology has been used to calculate fatality incidence rates for Indicator 4. Asin the previous edition of the CPM report, Traumatic Injury Fatalities data, which arecomparable with the data sources used in other countries have been used. Australiaswork-related fatality rate decreased from 200103 to 200406 and has increasedslightly from 200507 to 200608 to decrease again in 200709.While the gapbetween Australia and the better performing countries has slightly reduced, Australiaremains in seventh place and did not meet this aspirational goal.
Other countries with a similar economic prole to Australia are not included in thisindicator due to their higher incidence rate of fatality. For example, the unstandardisedfatality rate for Canada is above 6 deaths per 100 000 employees, while the
unstandardised fatality rate for the United States of America is close to 4.
It should be noted that due to differences in scope and methodology, comparisonsof occupational injury fatalities data between countries have many limitations. Theareas of concern lie in the coverage of self-employed workers, the lack of data relatingto road trafc fatalities and the incomplete coverage within the data of the workingpopulation. The adopted methodology has attempted to address these concerns butsome issues have not been fully resolved and may impact on the nal results.
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Comparative Performance Monitoring 200910 5
Indicator 4 Comparison of Australias work-related injury fatality rate with the bestperforming countries
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
2001-2003 2002-2004 2003-2005 2004-2006 2005-2007 2006-2008 2007-2009
Fatalitiesper100000w
orkers
Australia Sweden UK DenmarkFinland Norway Switzerland New Zealand
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6 Safe Work Australia
Work health and safety performance
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Comparative Performance Monitoring 200910 7
7 Safe Work Australia
Chapter 2 Work health and safety performance
The data used in this chapter are mainly accepted workers compensation claimslodged in each nancial year. Workers compensation data are currently themost comprehensive source of information for measuring work health and safetyperformance. While there are some limitations, most notably that the data reect
the injury experience of employees only and under-report the incidence of disease,workers compensation data still provide a good indication of work health and safetytrends. For fatalities, these data are supplemented with the data from the NotiedFatalities dataset and the National Coroners Information System (NCIS).
Serious claims
As there are different employer excesses across the various schemes, a standardreporting denition of a serious claim has been adopted for analysis. Serious claimsinclude all fatalities, all permanent incapacity claims (as dened by the jurisdictions)and temporary incapacity claims for which one or more weeks of compensationhas been recorded. Refer to page 44of Appendix 1 - Explanatory notes forfurther information.
Due to the different number of employees in each jurisdiction, rates have beencalculated to assist with comparisons. Incidence rates compare jurisdictions on a peremployee basis and frequency rates allow a comparison on a per hour worked basis.
Indicator 5 shows that the Australian incidence rate for serious claims has steadilydeclined over the past four years, decreasing 9% from 14.9 to 13.5 claims per 1000employees between 200506 and 200809. Preliminary data for 200910 indicates anincidence rate of 12.6 claims per 1000 employees. While it is expected that this ratewill rise when updated data are available, the preliminary data indicate a continuingimprovement in incidence rates.
Substantial falls in incidence rates from 200506 to 200809 were recorded by SouthAustralia (down 30%),the Australian Government (down 20%),Northern Territory(down 15%),Victoria (down 14%), Tasmania (down 7%), Western Australia (down6%) and New South Wales (down 5%). Seacare was the only jurisdiction to record anincrease in incidence rate during the same period (up by 12%). Also Seacare recordedthe highest incidence rate for 200809 at 39.4 claims per 1000 employees with the
Australian Government recording the lowest rate at 8.0 claims per 1000 employees.
For the Seacare scheme, 200809 and 200910 were disappointing years with a23% and 9% increase in the incidence rates of serious claims from the year beforerespectively. In 2008-09 the scheme recorded a 43% increase in the number of
compensated claims while the number of employees increased by only 17%. Theincrease in the incidence of serious claims represents a signicant challenge for theindustry and the authority.
These data are higher than those shown in Chapter 1 as they include all injury andall disease claims. The National OHS Strategy measurement only includes injury andmusculoskeletal disorder claims, however these two indicators show similar levelsof improvement.
Over the period 200506 to 200809, New Zealand recorded an 11% decreasein incidence rates, dropping from 14.5 to 12.9 claims per 1000 employees. Thepreliminary data show a further 17% decrease to 10.7 claims per 1000 employees.
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8 Safe Work Australia
Work health and safety performance
Indicator 5 Incidence rates of serious* injury and disease claims by jurisdiction
* Includes all accepted workers compensation claims involving temporary incapacity of one or more weekscompensation plus all claims for fatality and permanent incapacity.
Indicator 6 shows that in the 200910 preliminary data, the Australian frequency ratewas 7.6 claims per one million hours worked. While the frequency rate data show asimilar level of improvement for Australia, there are differences in the order of thejurisdictions: Tasmania recorded the highest frequency rate of 9.9 claims per onemillion hours worked but only the third highest incidence rate. Seacare also changedposition due to the 24-hour basis on which their frequency rates are calculated. Refer
to page 45 of Appendix 1 - Explanatory notes for further information.
Indicator 6 Frequency rates of serious* injury and disease claims by jurisdiction
* Includes all accepted workers compensation claims involving temporary incapacity of one or more weekscompensation plus all claims for fatality and permanent incapacity.
15
20
25
emp
loyees
5
10
15
Claimsper1000emp
loy
0
5
S'care Qld Tas NSW ACT SA NT WA VicAusGov
AusTotal
NZ
2005-06 35.1 17.8 18.1 15.5 13.8 18.9 14.5 13.6 11.9 10.0 14.9 14.5
2006-07 29.9 17.9 17.6 14.7 12.8 17.0 12.7 13.4 11.3 8.8 14.3 14.7
Claims
2006-07 29.9 17.9 17.6 14.7 12.8 17.0 12.7 13.4 11.3 8.8 14.3 14.7
2007-08 32.1 18.2 16.7 14.8 12.7 14.7 13.5 13.6 10.7 6.8 14.0 14.1
2008-09 39.4 17.0 16.9 14.8 13.2 13.3 12.3 12.7 10.3 8.0 13.5 12.92009-10p 42.8 15.5 15.4 14.2 13.1 12.5 11.9 11.5 9.5 7.5 12.6 10.7
2009-10p Aus 12.6 12.6 12.6 12.6 12.6 12.6 12.6 12.6 12.6 12.6
9
12
15
hoursworked
3
6
9
aimspermillionhoursw
0
Tas S'care Qld NSW ACT SA WA NT Vic AusGov
AusTotal
NZ
2005-06 11.5 8.1 10.7 9.0 8.7 11.4 7.9 8.2 7.2 5.6 8.9 8.0
2006-07 11.0 6.4 10.8 8.6 7.8 10.3 7.8 7.0 6.8 4.9 8.5 8.1
2007-08 10.4 6.2 10.9 8.6 8.0 9.0 7.8 7.5 6.5 3.8 8.3 7.8
C
laimsp
2006-07 11.0 6.4 10.8 8.6 7.8 10.3 7.8 7.0 6.8 4.9 8.5 8.1
2007-08 10.4 6.2 10.9 8.6 8.0 9.0 7.8 7.5 6.5 3.8 8.3 7.8
2008-09 10.8 8.8 10.3 8.8 8.3 8.3 7.4 6.8 6.3 4.4 8.1 7.2
2009-10p 9.9 9.5 9.4 8.5 8.3 7.8 6.8 6.8 5.8 4.2 7.6 6.0
2009-10p Aus 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6
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Comparative Performance Monitoring 200910 9
Long term claims - twelve or more weeks of compensation
Indicator 7 shows that the incidence rate for long term injury and disease claims inAustralia decreased by 5% from 3.8 claims per 1000 employees in 200506 to 3.6claims per 1000 employees in 200809. While the 200910 data show a continuing
decrease these data should be treated with caution due to the shorter developmenttime these claims have had compared to claims from previous years. On average, 26%of serious claims result in twelve or more weeks of compensation.
Indicator 7 Incidence rates of long term (12 weeks or more compensation) injury anddisease claims by jurisdiction
Tasmania, Western Australia, New South Wales and Seacare were the only Australianjurisdictions to record increases in the incidence rate of long term claims over the
period 200506 to 200809. New Zealand recorded a 4% decrease over this period,with its rate remaining lower than that of Australia.
The frequency rates of long term claims in Indicator 8 show a similar pattern to theincidence rates. There are no differences in order between the jurisdictions.
Indicator 8 Frequency rates of long term (12 weeks or more compensation) injury anddisease claims by jurisdiction
3
4
5
6
00employees
0
1
2
3
Aus AusClaimsper1000em
0
S'care ACT SA Qld Tas WA NSW Vic NTAusGov
AusTotal
NZ
2005-06 17.2 4.5 5.3 4.0 3.7 3.7 3.5 3.6 3.4 3.0 3.8 2.8
2006-07 14.1 3.6 5.2 4.2 3.7 3.7 3.5 3.4 2.8 2.6 3.7 3.0
2007-08 16.9 3.7 4.3 4.2 3.9 3.9 3.7 3.4 3.3 1.9 3.7 3.0
2008-09 19.8 4.1 3.9 4.0 3.9 3.8 3.6 3.3 2.9 2.2 3.6 2.7
Clai
- . . . . . . . . . . . .
2008-09 19.8 4.1 3.9 4.0 3.9 3.8 3.6 3.3 2.9 2.2 3.6 2.7
2009-10p 21.9 3.8 3.7 3.5 3.3 3.1 2.9 2.9 2.4 1.9 3.1 1.9
2009-10p Aus 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1
3
4
5
oursworked
0
1
2
3
aimspermillion
hours
0
S'care ACT SA Qld Tas WA Vic NSW NTAusGov
AusTotal
NZ
2005-06 4.0 2.8 3.2 2.4 2.3 2.2 2.2 2.1 1.9 1.7 2.3 1.5
2006-07 3.0 2.2 3.1 2.5 2.4 2.1 2.1 2.1 1.6 1.4 2.2 1.6
2007-08 3.3 2.4 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.2 2.1 2.1 1.8 1.0 2.2 1.7
2008-09 4.4 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.5 2.2 2.0 2.1 1.6 1.2 2.2 1.5
Claimsp
2007-08 3.3 2.4 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.2 2.1 2.1 1.8 1.0 2.2 1.7
2008-09 4.4 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.5 2.2 2.0 2.1 1.6 1.2 2.2 1.5
2009-10p 4.9 2.4 2.3 2.1 2.1 1.8 1.8 1.7 1.3 1.1 1.9 1.1
2009-10p Aus 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9 1.9
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10 Safe Work Australia
Work health and safety performance
Duration of absence
The duration of absence for claims provides one indicator of the severity of injuriesoccurring in Australia. Indicator 9 shows the variation across the jurisdictions in thepercentage of claims involving selected periods of compensation. These data are
based on claims lodged in 200708, which is the most recent year that reliable dataare available for this indicator.
Indicator 9 Serious* claims: Percentage involving selected periods of compensation,
200708
Jurisdiction Less than6 weeks6 weeksor more
12 weeksor more
26 weeksor more
52 weeksor more
% % % % %
New South Wales 62 38 25 15 9
Victoria 52 48 32 19 12
Queensland 61 39 23 10 3
Western Australia 58 42 28 1710
South Australia 58 42 29 19 12
Tasmania 60 40 23 12 6
Northern Territory 58 42 24 11 4
Australian Capital Territory 55 45 29 16 8
Australian Government 57 43 27 16 7
Seacare 29 71 53 26 15
Australian Average 59 41 27 15 8
New Zealand 67 33 21 12 6
* Includes all accepted workers compensation claims involving temporary incapacity of one or more weekscompensation plus all claims for fatality and permanent incapacity.
These data show that 59% of claims in Australia resulted in less than six weeks ofcompensation. The jurisdictional rates were similar except for Seacare, which recorded29% of claims being resolved in this time. Injured workers in the Seacare scheme faceunique problems in return to work, which need to be considered when interpreting theSeacare results in this indicator. Refer to page 52 of Appendix 1 - Explanatory notesfor further information.
Seacare had the highest percentage of claims continuing past 52 weeks ofcompensation (15% of claims) followed by South Australia and Victoria (12% each).Queensland had 3% of claims continuing past 52 weeks of compensation, partly dueto the nature of the Queensland scheme, followed by the Northern Territory (4%) and
Tasmania (6%).The New Zealand scheme nalised a higher proportion of claims within six weeks thandid Australia. However, their scheme recorded a 21% drop in this proportion whencompared to the previous year.
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Comparative Performance Monitoring 200910 11
Compensated fatalities
Indicator 10 shows that in 200910 in Australia there were 194 accepted compensatedclaims for a work-related fatality, of which 136 fatalities were due to injury andmusculoskeletal disorders and 58 due to other diseases. The number of fatalities is
expected to rise as more claims lodged in 200910 are accepted. There was a 14%decrease in the number of compensated fatalities in Australia from 200506 to 200809.
New Zealand recorded 101 compensated fatalities in 200910. Over the periodfrom 200506 to 200809 New Zealand recorded a drop of 18% in the number ofcompensated fatalities.
Fatalities are recorded in the NDS against the date of lodgement of the claim, not thedate of death. Data revisions from previous years can occur where a claim is lodgedin one year but not accepted until after the data are collected for that year or for aninjury or disease in one year where the employee dies from that injury or diseasein a subsequent year. This is particularly the case with disease fatalities, where
considerable time could elapse between diagnosis resulting in a claim being lodgedand death.
Workers compensation data are known to understate the true number of fatalitiesfrom work-related causes, particularly deaths from occupational diseases such asasbestosis and mesothelioma where compensation is often sought through separatemechanisms including common law.
Safe Work Australia is currently reporting annually on mesothelioma using data fromthe National Cancer Statistics Clearing House. The most recent of these publicationsMesothelioma in Australia: Incidence 1982 to 2006, Mortality 1997 to 2007is availablefromsafeworkaustralia.gov.au.
Deaths in the agricultural and construction sectors are also likely to be understated inthe NDS data due to the higher proportion of self-employed workers in these industrieswho are not covered by workers compensation. A more accurate representationof injury fatalities is available in the Work-Related Traumatic Injury Fatalities,
Australia 200809 report, which in addition to workers compensation data usescoronial information and notied fatalities data to provide a more accurate estimateof the number of fatalities from work-related injuries. The report is available fromsafeworkaustralia.gov.au. See also indicator 11b.
As compensation may be sought through the Compulsory Third Party insurancescheme for motor vehicles, work-related deaths from road trafc accidents may alsobe understated. Note that fatalities occurring from a journey to or from work are not
included in these statistics.Detailed information on the causes and other characteristics of fatalities reportedthrough the NDS is contained in the Compendium of Workers Compensation Statistics,which can be found at safeworkaustralia.gov.au.
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12 Safe Work Australia
Work health and safety performance
Indicator 10 Compensated Fatalities by jurisdiction
Jurisdiction 200506 200607 200708 200809 200910p 5yrAverage
Injury and musculoskeletal disorders
New South Wales 64 48 46 49 34 48
Victoria 48 60 48 34 32 44
Queensland 44 43 67 56 29 48
Western Australia 16 26 21 22 13 20
South Australia 13 7 8 8 7 9
Tasmania 6 4 7 5 4 5
Northern Territory 3 2 9 6 4 5
Australian Capital Territory 0 1 4 2 1 2
Australian Government 2 7 6 3 12 6
Seacare 0 0 0 1 0 1
Australian Total 196 198 216 186 136 186
New Zealand 64 67 62 65 66 65
Other diseases
New South Wales 14 9 14 18 10 13
Victoria 16 14 12 10 7 12
Queensland* 47 57 48 29 15 39
Western Australia 5 1 2 4 5 3
South Australia 2 3 1 0 0 2
Tasmania 1 0 2 0 0 2
Northern Territory 1 0 1 1 0 1
Australian Capital Territory 2 0 0 1 2 1
Australian Government 10 8 15 5 19 11
Seacare 0 0 0 0 0 0
Australian Total 98 92 95 68 58 82
New Zealand 56 71 39 33 35 47
Total
Australia 294 290 311 254 194 269
New Zealand 120 138 101 98 101 112
* The majority of compensated fatalities for other diseases in Queensland are due to mesothelioma or asbestosis.Queensland compensates more of these fatalities through its scheme than is the case in other jurisdictions wherecompensation is more often sought through separate mechanisms including common law.
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Comparative Performance Monitoring 200910 13
Notied fatalities
While workers compensation data are currently the most extensive source ofinformation for measuring work health and safety performance, there are somelimitations. Other data sources can be used to supplement workers compensation data
and provide a more complete picture of work-related fatalities. One alternative datasource is the Notied Fatalities dataset.
These data are collated from the work-related traumatic fatalities that are notied tojurisdictional work health and safety authorities under their legislation. The use of thesedata addresses some of the limitations of the compensated data by capturing fatalitiesoccurring in categories of workers not covered for workers compensation, such as theself-employed. This data source was established in July 2003. More information aboutthe Notied Fatalities collection can be found at safeworkaustralia.gov.au.
Indicator 11a shows that the number of notied fatalities for workers decreased by12% between 200405 and 200910. The volatility of work-related notiable fatalities
in Australia is highlighted by the decrease in the number of worker fatalities from thehighest recorded over the collection period of 151 in 200809, to the lowest recordedof 111 in 200910.
Indicator 11a Notied work-related traumatic fatalities, Australia
200405 200506 200607 200708 200809 200910change since200405
Worker 126 143 149 134 151 111 -12%
Note that Indicator 11a under reports work-related road trafc fatalities as thesefatalities are not notiable in all jurisdictions, whereas Indicator 10 does not includedeaths of persons who are not classed as employees, such as self-employed workersand bystanders. The NDS data for 200910 are preliminary and likely to increase asmore claims are accepted, while the Notied Fatalities data are not likely to increase.Itis important to note that Indicator 11a is a volatile measure and can change from yearto year.
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14 Safe Work Australia
Work health and safety performance
Work-related traumatic injury fatalities
There is currently no single national data collection system that identies all work-relatedinjury fatalities. This means that the exact number of people who die as a result ofwork-related activities in Australia is difcult to accurately establish. The Traumatic
Injury Fatalities dataset provides the best estimate of work-related injury deaths inAustralia.
The Traumatic Injury Fatalities dataset incorporates information from three datasetsthat contain information on work-related injury fatalities to determine an estimate of thenumber of workers and bystanders killed each year from work-related injury. Thesedatasets are the NDS, the Notied Fatalities dataset and the NCIS. Information frommedia articles is also used to identify additional deaths which may be work-related.These deaths tend to come from incidents investigated by Commonwealth agenciesi.e. plane and rail crashes and incidents involving the maritime industry. All such casesare matched with information in the NCIS to determine work-relatedness. This datasource was established in 2003. Further information on the Traumatic Injury Fatalities
collection along with annual reports can be found at safeworkaustralia.gov.au.
Indicator 11b shows between 200304 and 200809 there was a 9% increase in thenumber of workers killed while working due to an increase in road crash fatalities.Between 200304 and 200809, there was a 1% decrease in non-road crash fatalitiesand a 33% increase in fatalities as a result of a road crash.
Indicator 11b Number of worker fatalities, Australia
200304 200405 200506 200607 200708 200809 % change
Non-road crash 190 162 197 195 199 188 -1
Road crash 76 90 91 105 94 101 33
Total 266 252 288 300 293 289 9
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Comparative Performance Monitoring 200910 15
Claims by mechanism of injury/disease
Claim patterns can be analysed using the Type of Occurrence Classication System(TOOCS) which is a series of codes providing information on the cause of the incidentand the type of injury or disease sustained. One part of this system is the Mechanism
of injury/disease which is intended to identify the action, exposure or event which wasthe direct cause of the most serious injury or disease. More information on the TOOCScan be found on safeworkaustralia.gov.au.
Indicator 12 shows the number of serious claims by Mechanism of injury or diseaseover the past ve years. Under the National OHS Strategy the following are prioritymechanisms: Body stressing; Falls, trips & slips of a person; Being hit by movingobjects; and Hitting objects with a part of the body. The serious claims data indicatethat the priority mechanisms account for82% of claims.In particular, Body stressingstill remains the most common cause of claims, accounting for 41% of the 127 566serious claims in 200910.The largest decrease in claims among the prioritymechanisms over the four years from 200506 to 200809was recorded for the
mechanism Hitting objects with a part of the body(down by 6%), followed by Bodystressing(down by 5%). Claims for the mechanisms Being hit by moving objects andFalls, trips & slips of a person were decreased by 3% and 2% respectively. Claimsdue to the mechanism ofSound & pressure increased 30%, however this categoryaccounted for 4% of all claims in 200809. More information on the progress of thesepriority mechanisms against the National OHS Strategy targets can be found atsafeworkaustralia.gov.au.
More detailed information on claims by Mechanism of injury or disease can be foundin the Compendium of Workers Compensation Statistics, which can be found atsafeworkaustralia.gov.au.
Indicator 12 Mechanism of injury or disease: number of serious* claims by year, Australia
* Includes all accepted workers compensation claims involving temporary incapacity of one or more weekscompensation plus all claims for fatality and permanent incapacity.
** Includes vehicle accidents.
Heat, radiation & electricity
Sound & pressure
Mental stress
Other & unspecified mechanisms of injury
Hitting objects with a part of the body
Being hit by moving objects
Falls, trips & slips of a person
Body stressing
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10p
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Biological factors
Chemicals & other substances
Number of Claims ('000)
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16 Safe Work Australia
Work health and safety performance
Claims by size of business (in the private sector)
Indicator 13 compares the incidence of serious compensated claims by size ofbusiness for 200506 and 200910. Eight Australian jurisdictions and New Zealandcollect compensation data by size of business; however there are differences in the
methodologies used by schemes to collect this information and caution should beexercised when making jurisdictional comparisons. This indicator reports on the privatesector only and excludes those industry sectors which are wholly or substantially publicsector industries i.e. Government, administration & defence, Health & communityservices, Education & nance and Insurance.
In 200506, the lowest incidence rates were recorded for businesses with 500 ormore employees for all jurisdictions with the exception of Tasmania and Seacare,where the lowest incidence rates were recorded for businesses with 14 and 2099employees respectively. In 200910, for all jurisdictions except Seacare, businesseswith 500 or more employees had the lowest incidence rates of compensated claims.Furthermore, with the exception of New South Wales and the Australian Capital
Territory, all jurisdictions recorded a decrease in the incidence rate of claims for thissize of business during this period. For all size of business groups in New Zealand, theincidence rate of claims remained stable between 200506 and 200910.
Indicator 13 Size of business: incidence rates (claims per 1000 employees) of serious*claims by jurisdiction**
14employees
519employees
2099employees
100499employees
500 or moreemployees
200506
New South Wales 24.4 20.7 24.5 25.3 7.4
Victoria 10.0 10.1 17.1 24.0 8.4
Western Australia 22.4 15.1 18.6 20.1 5.8
South Australia 22.1 19.8 31.3 33.9 10.9
Tasmania 10.6 17.4 22.1 31.1 11.5
Northern Territory 26.1 29.9 21.3 16.4 1.2
Aus Capital Territory 8.0 13.3 24.6 25.2 5.6
Seacare n.p n.p 31.1 33.4 41.9
Australia*** 18.7 16.3 21.9 25.0 7.9
New Zealand 20.1 13.7 15.3 14.1 14.8
200910p
New South Wales 25.1 20.3 23.4 24.8 8.2
Victoria 7.3 7.3 13.5 20.2 8.1
Western Australia 16.1 13.7 18.5 28.6 1.7
South Australia 12.6 13.6 21.4 25.4 6.6
Tasmania 10.8 17.1 23.3 26.9 9.8
Northern Territory 26.1 25.9 19.9 10.3 1.1
Aus Capital Territory 7.1 13.4 23.8 22.7 5.9
Seacare n.p n.p 19.1 51.7 23.8
Australia*** 16.4 14.4 19.3 23.8 7.0
New Zealand 17.3 13.0 13.2 11.9 13.7
* Includes all accepted workers compensation claims involving temporary incapacity of one or more weekscompensation plus all claims for fatality and permanent incapacity in the private sector.
** This indicator shows patterns at two points in time. Selecting different points may show a different pattern.
*** Consists only of Australian jurisdictions listed above.
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Comparative Performance Monitoring 200910 17
Chapter 3 Work health and safety compliance andenforcement activities
Jurisdictions encourage work health and safety compliance using a variety of
mechanisms ranging from education, advice and information through to prosecution.Inspectors appointed under legislation may visit workplaces for the purpose ofproviding advice, investigating incidents or dangerous occurrences and ensuringcompliance with work health and safety legislation. Where breaches are detected theinspector, based on risk, may issue notices or escalate the action to formal procedures,which are addressed through the courts for serious contravention of the legislation.
Indicator 14 provides details on specic work health and safety compliance andenforcement activity undertaken by jurisdictions for each year from 200506 to200910. The reader should note that compliance enforcement data for Indicator 14does not include the mining sector. Mines inspectors have a different mechanism
for enforcement measures and have been excluded from the data due to differentlegislation operating across jurisdictions. Due to this denition it is possible thatthe number of eld active inspectors shown in this report may differ to inspectoratenumbers shown in jurisdictional reports.
A summary of the compliance and enforcement activities show that in 200910 therewere:
80 549 proactive workplace visits around Australia 60 186 reactive workplace visits around Australia 1088 eld active inspectors employed around Australia 62 785 notices were issued by Australian jurisdictions
448 legal proceedings against businesses were nalised, and; $19 million in nes were handed out by Australia courts.
Readers should be aware that in this edition of the CPM report, new denitionsfor eld active inspectors and proactive and reactive workplace interventions wereimplemented. Data on the proactive and reactive interventions and the number of eldactive inspectors in this report are not comparable with enforcement data in previouseditions of the report. See page 47 of the Explanatory notes for further details.
There are now two measures which replace the former single measure of proactiveworkplace interventions. These are:
the number of proactive workplace visits (which describe workplace visits thathave not resulted from a complaint or workplace incident), and
the number of workshops/presentations/seminars/forums (which includeall planned activities that are conducted solely for an ofcer to delivereducational advice or information).
The former single measure, reactive workplace interventions has also been replaced.Reactive interventions are now measured by:
the count of workplace visits that were undertaken to resolve a workplaceincident or complaint, and
the count of other reactive interventions (not including workplace visits) thatwere undertaken to resolve a workplace incident or complaint.
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18 Safe Work Australia
Work health and safety compliance and enforcement activities
Interventions
Some jurisdictions, while able to provide the 200910 gures according to the newdenitions, were unable to provide data for the previous four years. Queensland wasthe only jurisdiction that supplied proactive and reactive workplace intervention data forthe ve nancial years. Where jurisdictions were unable to supply data according to thenew denition the table shows u/a (for unavailable).
The revised denitions for proactive and reactive interventions have enabled NewSouth Wales to provide data across all categories. A high proportion of the activityin New South Wales aligns to resolving issues raised by the community throughworkplace visits, ofce based follow up activities and stakeholder engagementmechanisms. In addition, New South Wales integrates components of proactiveprevention programs (for example verication activities involving high risk licence orregistration activities) within reactive or response activity to ensure greater coverage ofhigh risk workplaces is achieved.
In Queensland, a substantial increase in proactive workplace visits and a slightdecrease in reactive workplace visits was recorded in 200910. The Queensland
inspectorate is now focusing on strategies that will enhance its reach and effectivenessacross industries. Greater emphasis is being directed to engage with workplaces,develop networks and provide advice to workplaces. This shift in focus is manifestedby the substantial increase in the number of workshops/presentations/seminars/forumsconducted during 200910.
The Northern Territory reported a 50% decrease in its number of proactive workplacevisits. Limited resources in the Northern Territory impacted on its ability to conductworkplace visits resulting in a focus on reactive workplace visits.
InspectorsThe number of eld active inspectors employed around Australia has remained
relatively stable between 200506 and 200910. Field active inspectors are denedas gazetted inspectors whose role is to spend the majority of their time enforcingprovisions of the work health and safety legislation directly with workplaces. Inaddition in some jurisdictions inspectors engage in other activities to improve workhealth and safety capabilities of businesses and workplaces i.e. a compliance eldrole. They include investigators (where applicable) who are appointed to work withthe enforcement provisions by doing worksite visits, gathering evidence and makingconclusions. They also include current vacancies and staff on extended leave,managers of the inspectorate regardless of whether undertaking eld active work,auditors (who are gazetted as inspectors) who are responsible for creating an audittemplate, completing the auditing process and providing feedback. Staff involved in
giving advice and information packs from the ofce have been excluded. Businessadvisory ofcers and community education ofcers have been also excluded.
The number of eld active inspectors employed by the Australian Government droppedin 200910. The decrease is due to the introduction of the new category numberof other staff undertaking non-inspectorate activities. The number of eld activeinspectors and number of other staff undertaking non-inspectorate activities is nowshared across these two denitions.
Readers should note that although repeat visits and the number of inspectorsin attendance are counted separately for both proactive and reactive workplaceintervention measures, this is not so for Western Australia where inspectors in
attendance are not counted separately. Please refer to page 47 of Appendix 1 -Explanatory notes for more details about this.
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Comparative Performance Monitoring 200910 19
NoticesWhere inspectors identify a breach under their work health and safety legislation, anotice may be issued. Australian jurisdictions issued 62 785 notices in 200910, a 10%increase from last year. In 200910, 1143 infringement notices were issued around
Australia, compared to 5 744 prohibition notices and 55 898 improvement notices.Data for notices cannot be directly compared across jurisdictions as notices are dened
by the separate legislation of each jurisdiction. For example, in some instances a singlenotice may be issued for multiple breaches of the legislation, while in other instancesmultiple notices are issued for each breach identied.
In 200910, the Australian Government issued an increased number of noticescompared with last nancial year. This is in line with directions issued by the Ministerfor Workplace Relations to adopt a more proactive approach to compliance andenforcement, including undertaking a greater number of investigations each year.
Legal ProceedingsIt is important to note that a conviction, order or agreement is dened (with or withoutpenalty) once it has been recorded against a company or individual in the judicial
system. All legal proceedings recorded in the reference year are counted regardlessof when the initial legal action commenced. Data for Victoria and the Australian CapitalTerritory is limited to the number of successful prosecutions resulting in a conviction,ne or both. Queensland legislation does not allow for agreements, while Western
Australian legislation does not provide for orders or agreements.
In 2009-10 New South Wales recorded a drop in the number of legal proceedingsnalised and legal proceedings resulting in a conviction, order or agreement. Thenalisation of some proceedings was temporarily delayed in 200910 due to the HighCourt Kirk Group judgement in February 2010. The court judgement resulted in alarge number of interlocutory applications being made including strike out motionsand adjournment applications. This consequently caused a decrease in the number ofnalised legal proceedings and outcomes reported by New South Wales.
FinesThe total amount of nes awarded by the courts in 200910 reached $19 million, an 8%increase from the previous year. Information on penalty provisions can be found in thepublication Comparison of OHS Arrangements in Australia and New Zealandavailableon the web at deewr.gov.au/WorkplaceRelations/WRMC/Pages/Reports.aspx. In someinstances the courts declare that penalty amounts are to remain condential. Thereforethe data recorded in Indicator 14 are only those amounts known publicly.
In 200910, the Australian Capital Territory recorded a signicant decrease in theamount of nes awarded by the courts in comparison to the previous year. The
Australian Capital Territory assess this as a reection of year on year variations, andnot representative of any decline in enforcement activity involving prosecutions or nes.
The Northern Territory reported that the total amount of nes awarded by the courts wasalso signicantly lower than the previous year, from $693 000 in 200809 to $60 000in 200910. This drop corresponds with a decrease in the number of legal proceedingsthat occurred in the Northern Territory in 200910 compared with the previous year.The large decrease was also due to a particularly large ne that was imposed duringthe previous year which inated the gure compared to 200708 and 200910. TheNorthern Territory has made a strategic decision to focus on capacity building andeducation through improvement and advisory notices rather than infringement notices.This strategy has been effective in lifting knowledge and compliance in a co-operativeway.
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20 Safe Work Australia
Work health and safety compliance and enforcement activities
Indicator14Workhealthandsafety
complianceandenforcementactivitybyjurisdiction
NSW
Vic
Qld
WA
SA
Tas
NT
ACTaAusGov
Seacare
bTot
alAus
NZ
Num
bero
f
workp
lace
visits:
proact
ive
2005
06
u/a
c27834
c24781
d8841
9075
e2953
299
u/a
d113
44
79827
1121
2006
07
u/a
c27103
c24287
d6715
6075
2378
287
u/a
d93
27
66872
3445
2007
08
u/a
c23836
c27565
d5984
5745
2375
280
u/a
d142
31
65816
3153
2008
09
u/a
c25370
c20242
d6502
7468
4518
110
u/a
d107
38
64428
5194
2009
10
8915
c28104
c25558
d6253
7208
4218
55
u/a
d195
43
80549
5409
Num
bero
f
works
hops
/
presen
tations
/
sem
inars
/
forums
:
proact
ive
2005
06
u/a
u/a
1778
u/a
u/a
u/a
u/a
u/a
u/a
n/a
1778
598
2006
07
u/a
u/a
1667
u/a
u/a
u/a
u/a
u/a
u/a
n/a
1667
731
2007
08
u/a
u/a
1306
f861
u/a
u/a
u/a
u/a
u/a
n/a
2167
589
2008
09
u/a
u/a
2579
f944
226
359
u/av
u/a
u/a
n/a
4120
814
2009
10
631
u/a
g3628
f1111
295
222
20
u/a
85
n/a
5994
873
Num
bero
f
workp
lace
visits:reac
tive
2005
06
u/a
13329
3573
d6415
9832
e3553
5104
u/a
d76
5
41811
9266
2006
07
u/a
15821
3682
d6253
h13818
1159
5022
u/a
d171
11
45766
3415
2007
08
u/a
14626
3386
d6189
12007
1466
4174
u/a
d431
23
41871
6104
2008
09
u/a
16814
2639
d4850
15871
1524
3449
u/a
d767
12
45159
6923
2009
10
15661
16514
i2302
d4646
13871
2741
3996
u/a
d425
30
60186
6465
Otherreac
tive
interve
ntions
2005
06
u/a
u/a
15679
9518
u/a
0
u/a
u/a
u/a
0
25197
10079
2006
07
u/a
u/a
14982
10918
u/a
0
u/a
u/a
u/a
0
25900
9849
2007
08
u/a
u/a
16641
10918
u/a
0
u/a
u/a
u/a
0
27559
10837
2008
09
u/a
u/a
15781
11919
u/a
0
u/a
u/a
u/a
0
27700
11269
2009
10
19138
u/a
i14391
13379
2673
0
u/a
u/a
906
0
50487
9685
Num
bero
f
e
ldac
tive
inspec
tors
2005
06
301
g227
229
j101
93
29
12
12
22
3
1029
157
2006
07
313
g225
225
j103
93
30
12
6
45
3
1055
144
2007
08
314
g212
217
j103
93
29
12
14
47
3
1044
156
2008
09
314
g253
235
j103
93
31
12
12
60
3
1116
151
2009
10
315
g255
221
j103
93
31
12
16
39
3
1088
k145
Num
bero
f
e
ldac
tive
inspec
tors
per
10
000
employees
2005
06
1.0
1.0
1.4
1.1
1.4
1.5
1.3
0.9
0.8
8.2
1.1
0.9
2006
07
1.1
1.0
1.3
1.1
1.4
1.5
1.2
0.4
1.4
8.5
1.1
0.8
2007
08
1.0
0.9
1.2
1.1
1.3
1.4
1.2
1.0
1.3
7.5
1.1
0.9
2008
09
1.1
1.0
1.3
1.0
1.3
1.5
1.1
0.9
1.7
6.4
1.1
0.8
2009
10
1.0
1.0
1.2
1.0
1.3
1.5
1.1
1.2
1.1
6.6
1.1
0.8
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Comparative Performance Monitoring 200910 21
Indica
tor14Workhealthandsafety
complianceandenforcementa
ctivitybyjurisdictioncontinued
NSW
Vic
Qld
WA
SA
Tas
NT
ACTAusGova
Seacare
bTotalAus
NZ
Num
bero
f
others
taff
un
de
rta
king
non-
inspe
ctora
te
ac
tivities
2005
06
u/a
u/a
53
u/a
ln/a
0
0
mu
/a
u/a
1
54
u/a
2006
07
u/a
u/a
41
u/a
10
0
0
mu
/a
u/a
1
52
9
2007
08
u/a
u/a
38
n4
12
0
0
mu
/a
u/a
2
56
13
2008
09
u/a
u/a
49
n5
13
0
0
mu
/a
u/a
2
68
12
2009
10
34
u/a
57
n6
13
0
0
mu
/a
13
2
125
11
Num
bero
f
infrin
gemen
t
no
tic
es
issue
d
2005
06
1195
hn
/a
486
hn
/a
hn
/a
u/a
47
28
hn
/a
0
1756
20
2006
07
726
hn
/a
612
hn
/a
hn
/a
u/a
173
8
hn
/a
0
1519
23
2007
08
620
hn
/a
643
hn
/a
hn
/a
37
201
13
hn
/a
0
1514
9
2008
09
686
hn
/a
506
hn
/a
hn
/a
49
0
10
hn
/a
0
1251
10
2009
10
688
hn
/a
393
hn
/a
hn
/a
56
0
6
hn
/a
0
1143
2
Num
bero
f
improvemen
t
no
tic
es
issue
d
2005
06
14832
11168
16347
11679
3573
297
49
427
12
19
58403
1743
2006
07
13243
12040
14631
10249
3258
188
30
137
37
17
53830
1345
2007
08
13109
10279
14390
9724
2328
161
136
129
18
16
50290
356
2008
09
10832
18363
8149
9833
2396
169
209
99
31
17
50081
747
2009
10
12161
21600
9057
10640
1841
224
132
187
36
20
55898
853
Num
bero
f
pro
hibition
no
tic
es
issue
d2005
06
1212
1876
2243
708
623
125
54
68
10
6
6925
417
2006
07
1127
1538
2434
629
732
105
65
57
6
4
6697
549
2007
08
994
1043
2784
676
588
113
61
94
19
3
6375
246
2008
09
767
1078
2278
721
630
112
69
101
16
4
5776
240
2009
10
856
928
2277
705
628
167
51
103
i26
3
5744
259
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Comparative Performance Monitoring 200910 23
Chapter4Workerscompensationpremiumsandentitlements
StandardisedaveragepremiumratesTheratesinthischapterareforpoliciesthatprovidedcoverageduringthereferencenancialyears.Thepremiumratesreportedareearnedpremium,exceptforWestern
Australiawhichsuppliespremiumsdataonawrittenbasis.Earnedpremiumisdenedastheamountallocatedforcoverinanancialyearfrompremiumscollectedduringthepreviousandcurrentnancialyears,whilewrittenpremiumisdenedastheamountofpremiumrecordedforapolicyatthetimeitisissued.Thepremiumsreportedareallocatedfordenedperiodsofrisk,irrespectiveofwhentheywereactuallypaid,enablingratestobecomparedforeachnancialyear.GoodsandServicesTax(GSTchargedonpremiumsisnotincludedinthereportedratesasmost
Australianemployersrecouppart,orall,ofthistaxthroughinputtaxcredits.
Indicator15showsthatin200910thestandardisedAustralianaveragepremiumratewas1.53%ofpayroll,exactlythesameasthepreviousnancialyear.
TheSeacareschemerecordedthelargestpercentagedecrease(6%)fromthepreviousnancialyearfollowedbytheAustralianCapitalterritoryPrivatewitha5%decrease.
Seacarealsorecordedthehighestpremiumratein200910at3.59%ofpayrollduetothehighrisknatureofthisindustry.However,thisisstillasubstantialdropof39%fromthe200506premiumrateof5.86%.
TheAustralianGovernmentschemerecordedthelowestpremiumrateofalljurisdictionsat0.93%ofpayroll,a3%dropfromthepreviousnancialyear.Datafor
theAustralianGovernmentdoesnotincludetheAustralianCapitalTerritoryPublicService.
Despitea5%increasefrompreviousnancialyear,Queenslandrecordedthesecondlowestpremiumrateofalljurisdictionsat1.12%ofpayroll.Loweradministrativecostsalongwithstrongnancialandclaimsmanagement,andbusinessefcienciesallowsforlowerpremiums.
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24 Safe Work Australia
Indicator 15 Standardised average premium rates (including insured and self-insuredsectors) by jurisdiction
TobeconsistentwiththeAustralianjurisdictions,theNewZealandpremiuminformationincludesthelevyonemployerstofundtheworkerscompensationportionoftheResidualClaimsAccount.Thisaccountrelatestoworkerscompensationclaimsincurredpriorto1July1999butexcludestheliabilityforpre-1992non-workinjuriesforearners.Asinthepreviousnancialyear,35%ofallemployercontributionswereleviestofundtheResidualClaimsAccount.TheNewZealandstandardisedaveragepremiumratewas0.93%ofpayroll,a9%increasefromthepreviousnancialyear.Thisrate
continuestobemuchlowerthantheraterecordedforAustralia.OnereasonforthelowerrateinNewZealandisthatitsschemedoesnotprovidecoverageforthesamerangeofmentaldisordersasdotheAustralianschemes.
Notethatthesedatawillbedifferenttopremiumratespublisheddirectlybythejurisdictionsduetotheadjustmentsmadetothedatatoenablemoreaccuratejurisdictionalcomparisons.Theprincipalregulatorydifferencesthataffectcomparabilityandforwhichadjustmentshavebeenappliedinthisindicatorare:theexclusionofprovisionforcoverageofjourneyclaims;theinclusionofself-insurers;theinclusionofsuperannuationaspartofremuneration;andthestandardisationofnon-compensableexcessesimposedbyeachscheme.TheeffectofeachoftheseadjustmentsisshowninAppendixTable3onpage51intheExplanatoryNotes.InformationonpublishedratescanbefoundintheComparison of Workers Compensation Arrangementspublicationatsafeworkaustralia.gov.au.
0
1
2
3
4
S'care SAACT
PrivateNSW NT Tas Vic WA Qld
Aus
GovAust NZ
2005-06 5.86 2.88 2.93 2.50 2.03 1.90 1.77 1.69 1.36 1.20 2.01 0.88
2006-07 5.68 2.84 2.66 2.14 1.81 1.77 1.60 1.64 1.13 1.15 1.78 0.93
2007-08 4.87 2.83 2.28 1.93 1.81 1.49 1.46 1.38 1.09 0.97 1.61 0.92
2008-09 3.81 2.81 2.14 1.83 1.77 1.38 1.38 1.22 1.06 0.95 1.53 0.85
2009-10 3.59 2.76 2.03 1.82 1.82 1.40 1.39 1.22 1.12 0.93 1.53 0.93
2009-10 Aus av 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53
%o
fpayroll
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Comparative Performance Monitoring 200910 25
Entitlementsunderworkerscompensation
Premiumratesaresetataleveltoensuresufcientfundsareavailabletocovertheentitlementspayableunderworkerscompensationintheeventanemployeeisinjuredordevelopsawork-relateddisease.Differententitlementlevelsacrossthejurisdictions
canexplainsomeofthedifferencesinpremiumrates.Dataprovidedinotherchaptersofthisreportshouldalsobeconsideredwhencomparingentitlementsprovidedunderthevariousworkerscompensationschemes.
Thefollowingexampleshavebeenincludedtoprovideindicativeentitlementspayableineachjurisdiction.AbriefsummaryonhowentitlementsarecalculatediscontainedinAppendix2:Table7.MoredetailedinformationcanbefoundintheComparison ofWorkers Compensation Arrangementspublicationatsafeworkaustralia.gov.au.Theseentitlementsarebasedonlegislationcurrentasat1January2010.
Temporaryimpairment
Thisexampledetailshowjurisdictionscompensatelow,middleandhighincomeemployeesduringselectedperiodsoftemporaryimpairment.Entitlementsforaninjuredemployeeareshowninthefollowingtableusingpre-injuryearningsof$600grossperweek(awardwage),$1000grossperweek(non-awardwage)and$2000grossperweek(non-awardwage).Theseproleshavebeenchosentohighlightthestatutorymaximumentitlementspayableaswellasjurisdictionaldifferencesinentitlementstoworkersemployedunderanaward.
ScenarioTheemployeeremainsunabletoworkforaperiodoftimebeforereturningtotheirpreviousdutiesonafull-timebasis.Theemployeehasadependentspouseandtwochildren(aged7and8).Theemployeeinjuredtheirback
andhaslowerbackstrainasaresult.
Indicator 16 Percentage of pre-injury earnings for selected periods of impairment, as at1 January 2010
Level of pre-injury income NSW Vic Qld WA SA Tas NT ACT
AusGov NZ
13weeksofimpairment
Lowincome 100 95 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 80
Middleincome 80 95 91 100 100 100 100 100 100 80
Highincome 80 65 85 100 100 100 100 100 100 80
26weeksofimpairment
Lowincome 100 88 100 100 95 93 100 100 100 80Middleincome 80 88 91 93 95 93 100 100 100 80
Highincome 80 65 85 93 95 93 100 100 100 80
52weeksofimpairment
Lowincome 100 84 100 100 88 89 95 95 99 80
Middleincome 73 84 85 89 88 89 93 83 97 80
Highincome 57 66 80 89 88 89 88 83 97 80
104weeksofimpairment
Lowincome 100 82 100 100 84 87 93 93 94 80
Middleincome 70 82 82 87 84 87 90 74 86 80
Highincome45 66 78 (a)87 84 87 81 74 86 80
(a) In Western Australia there is a cap on weekly earnings set at twice the annual Average Weekly Earnings (WA) aspublished by the ABS each year. The weekly cap as at 30 June 2010 was $2026.10 and applied to all income levels. Inaddition, for a high income earner (e.g. $2000 per week), the prescribed amount for weekly benet ($178 047) would beexhausted by 102 weeks of compensation.
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26 Safe Work Australia
Forlowincomeearners(workingunderawards),NewSouthWales,QueenslandandWesternAustraliaprovidedthehighestpercentage,at100%,ofpre-injuryearningsfor104weeksofimpairment.Thesejurisdictionsprovidefullcoverageofearningsforsuchemployeesunderthisscenario.Reductionsinweeklycompensationpaymentswouldhaveoccurredfornon-awardemployees.TheAustralianGovernmentprovided
thesecondhighestpercentage:94%ofpre-injuryearningsincompensation.Victoriaprovidedthelowestpercentageofpre-injuryearningsfor104weeksofimpairment(82%)dueinparttothestep-downinbenetsto75%ofpre-injuryearningsafter13weeksofcompensation(seeAppendix2:Table7formoredetails).
Formiddleincomeearnerswith104weeksofimpairment,theNorthernTerritoryprovidedthehighestpercentageofpre-injuryearnings(90%)followedbyWestern
AustraliaandTasmania(87%each),theAustralianGovernment(86%),andSouthAustralia(84%).NewSouthWalesprovidedthelowestpercentageofpre-injuryearningsforthefullperiodofimpairment(70%)duetothelowerpaymentsfromtherstdayofinjuryfornon-awardworkersandtherestrictionsappliedafter26weeks.IntheNewSouthWalessystem,once26weeksofcompensationhavebeenpaid,the
injuredworkerisentitledtothelesserof90%oftheiraverageweeklyearningsortheindexedstatutoryrate,plusextraentitlementsfordependants(seeAppendix2:Table7formoredetails).
Incontrasttothelowincomescenario,whereeightofthenineAustralianjurisdictionsprovidedfullincomeprotectionfortherst13weeks,thehighincomescenarioshowsthatonlysixjurisdictionsprovidedfullincomeprotectionforhighincomeearnersforthisperiodofincapacity.
Permanentimpairment
Thisscenarioshowstheentitlementspayableforadegreeofpermanentimpairment
causedbyaworkplaceinjury.Eachjurisdictionhasapredeterminedstatutorymaximumlumpsumpaymentforinjuriescausingpermanentimpairment.Maximumamountsarepayableincasesoffullandpermanentimpairment.AppendixTable7listsentitlementsunderworkerscompensationschemesforeachjurisdiction.Thefollowingscenarioisindicativeonlyforthesetypesofpayments.
ScenarioAsaresultoftheworkplaceincident,theemployeewasdiagnosedwithcompleteTetraplegiabelowthe6thcervicalneurologicalsegment.Thisresultedinparalysisofhishands,impairedupperbodymovementandparalysisofthetrunkandlowerlimbs.Helostalllowerbodyfunctionand
waswheelchair-bound.Impairmentwastotalandpermanentandtherewasnorealprospectofreturningtowork.
Theemployeespre-injuryearningswere$1000grossperweek.Theemployeeis35yearsofageandhasadependentspouseandtwochildrenaged7and8theyoungerchildenteredtheworkforceat16andtheolderchildremainedinfull-timeeducationuntilage25.Theemployeecontributedtoasuperannuationfund.Therewasnocontributorynegligenceonhispart,howevertherewasnegligenceonthepartoftheemployer.
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Comparative Performance Monitoring 200910 27
Indicator17detailstheentitlementspayabletotheinjuredemployee.Thestatutorycomponentincludestheweeklybenetspayablefortheremainderoftheemployeesworkinglife(30yearsinthisinstance)andalllumpsumpaymentsforpermanentimpairment.Thecommonlawcomponentisanestimateoftheadditionalpaymentavailableunderacommonlawsettlement,whereapplicable.Allguresexclude
medicalandlikeservicessuchasattendantcare.AppendixTable6identiesthejurisdictionsthathaveaccesstocommonlaw.IntheAustralianCapitalTerritory,ifcommonlawdamagesareawarded,statutorybenetspaidwillbedeductedinordertoensurethattheprincipleofnocompensationbenetpaidtwiceismaintained.Similarly,workersfortheAustralianGovernmentaremorelikelytoacceptthestatutorylumpsumpaymentthantopursueacommonlawsettlement.
Totalentitlementsrangedfrom$1.2millionintheAustralianCapitalTerritoryto$5.2millioninNewSouthWales.
InWesternAustralia,NewSouthWales,Queensland,TasmaniaandtheAustralianCapitalTerritorythereisnoupperlimitoncompensationthatcouldbeexpectedfrom
acommonlawclaimunderthisscenario.WesternAustraliaprovidedagureforthisscenarioof$1037781whichisbasedonestimatesfromapprovedinsurerswithintheWesternAustralianworkerscompensationscheme.Agureof$4millionwasprovidedbyNewSouthWalesandisconsideredtobeentitlementspayableundercommonlawforsimilarscenarios.Queenslandprovidedagureof$1130000,whichisbasedonanexamplesimilartothisscenario.Tasmaniaprovidedagureof$1520150whichwasestimatedbasedongrossearningsratherthannetguresasperpreviousyears.Statutorybenetsarerepaidbytheworkertocompensationschemesifcommonlawdamagesareawarded.
InSouthAustralia,legislationchangesenactedfromApril2009provideforasignicantincreaseinthemaximumamountpayabletoworkerswhosufferapermanentserious
injuryorillness,from$230982to$426255.Thesystemisnowweightedsothatmorecompensationispaidtothosewithmoderatetoseriouspermanentinjuries,ratherthanthosewithminorpermanentinjuries.
TheentitlementsprovidedbytheNewZealandschemeinthisscenarioarecomparabletothoseprovidedbytheAustralianjurisdictions.However,thereisnoaccesstocommonlawundertheNewZealandscheme.
Workplacefatality
Thisexampleexaminestheentitlementspayabletodependantsofanemployeewhodiedfollowingaworkplaceincident.Entitlementstodependantsarepaidbywayofa
lumpsumand/orweeklybenets,dependingontheemployeescircumstancesandschemedesign.T
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