Compendium of OHS and Workers Compensation Statistics. December 2009 AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES

Transcription

1 Compendium of OHS and Workers Compensation Statistics December 2009 AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES

2 Disclaimer This Compendium has been developed by Comcare and all attempts have been made to incorporate accurate information and data. The data included in the Compendium has been compiled during October and November This Compendium is supplied on the terms and understanding that Comcare and the Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission (SRCC) are not responsible for the results of any action taken on the basis of information in this publication, nor for any error or omission from this publication. Comcare and the SRCC expressly disclaim all and any liability and responsibility to any person, in respect of anything, and the consequences of anything, done or omitted to be done, by any such person in reliance, whether wholly or partially, upon the whole or any part of this publication. Copyright Published by Comcare ABN Commonwealth of Australia 2009 This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Australian Government available from the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Intellectual Property Branch, Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, GPO Box 2154, Canberra ACT 2601 or posted at Contacts for further information To obtain further information about the contents of this report, contact: Comcare GPO Box 9905 CANBERRA ACT 2601 This publication is available on the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission website at SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 2

3 Contents 1 Introduction 5 2 Highlights 6 3 Coverage SRC scheme OHS scheme 9 4 Scheme profile Industry classification Australian and ACT government premium payers by industry classification Licensed self-insurers by industry classification Employer size Location 14 5 Occupational health and safety Workers compensation claims Incidence of accepted claims Frequency of claims with one day or more time lost (non-commuting) Incidence of claims with one week or more time lost (non-commuting) Breakdown of injury and disease Major claim drivers Body stressing Mental stress Accepted claims by mechanism of incident and gender Accepted claims by age group (Australian Government premium payers) Accepted claims by MOI and age group (Australian Government premium payers) Average total cost of claims by age (Australian Government premium payers) Prevention targets Claims with one week lost time (non-commuting) Deaths OHS incident notifications OHS notification incidence rate OHS notifications by mechanism of incident Investigations 33 6 Claims management Process Claims summary Claims determined Claims acceptance rate Determinations Reconsiderations AAT reviews 43 7 Rehabilitation and return-to-work Claim duration Median time lost injury and disease Durable return-to-work rate Return to Work Monitor 51 8 Scheme expenditure Revenue Premiums Payments Claim payments by type Performance Funding ratio Outstanding liabilities 55 9 Glossary 56 SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 3

4 Tables and figures Figure 3.1 Comcare scheme Figure 3.2 SRC Act coverage 8 Figure 3.3 OHS Act coverage 9 Figure 4.1 SRC Act coverage by industry classification as at 30 June Table 4.1 Australian and ACT Government premium payers by industry as at 30 June Table 4.2 Licensed self-insurers by industry as at 30 June Table 4.3 SRC Act employers by size as at 30 June Table 4.4 Scheme FTE employees by location as at 30 June Figure 4.2 Scheme FTE employees by location as at 30 June Figure 5.1 Incidence of accepted claims 15 Figure 5.2 Frequency of claims with one day lost time 16 Figure 5.3 Incidence of claims with one week or more lost time 17 Figure 5.4 Accepted claims by injury/disease (premium payers) 18 Figure 5.5 Accepted claims by injury/disease (licensed self-insurers) 18 Figure 5.6 Accepted claims by mechanism of incident 12 months to 30 June Table 5.1 Accepted claims by mechanism of incident (premium payers) 20 Figure 5.7 Incidence of body stressing claims 21 Figure 5.8 Average total cost of body stressing claims (premium payers only) 21 Figure 5.9 Accepted body stressing claims by mechanism of incident 12 months to 30 June Figure 5.10 Accepted body stressing claims by occupation 12 months to 30 June Figure 5.11 Incidence of mental stress claims 23 Figure 5.12 Average total cost of mental stress claims (premium payers) 23 Figure 5.13 Accepted mental stress claims by mechanism of incident 12 months to 30 June Figure 5.14 Mental stress claims by occupation 12 months to 30 June Figure 5.15 Accepted claims by mechanism of incident and gender 12 months to 30 June Figure 5.16 Estimated incidence of claims (one week or more time lost) by age group (Australian Government premium payers) 26 Figure 5.17 Estimated incidence of claims (one week or more time lost) by mechanism of incident and age group (Australian Government premium payers) 12 months to 30 June Figure 5.18 Average total cost of claims by age (Australian Government premium payers) 12 months to 30 June Figure 5.19 Claims with one week lost time (premium payers and licensed self-insurers) 29 Table 5.2 Compensated deaths 30 Figure 5.20 OHS notifications incidence rate (scheme) 31 Table 5.3 OHS notifications by mechanism of incident (scheme) 12 months to 30 June Table 5.4 Number and ratio of field active investigators 33 Table 5.5 Investigations commenced 34 Figure 5.21 Rate of investigations commenced 35 Figure 6.1 Comcare claim lodgement and determination process 37 Figure 6.2 Claim reconsideration and review process 38 Figure 6.3 Incidence of claims determined 39 Figure 6.4 Claims acceptance rate 40 Table 6.1 Average time (calendar days) to determine claims 41 Table 6.2 Requests for reconsiderations decided 42 Table 6.3 Outcome of claimant applications to the AAT (premium payers) 43 Table 6.4 Outcome of claimant applications to the AAT (licensed self-insurers) 44 Figure 7.1 Steps in the return-to-work process 45 Figure 7.2 Incidence of claims with time lost (premium payers) 46 Figure 7.3 Incidence of claims with time lost (licensed self-insurers) 46 Figure 7.4 Time-lost-to-date to Table 7.1 Time-lost-to-date 48 Figure 7.5 Median lost time (premium payers) 49 Figure 7.6 Median time lost (licensed self-insurers) 49 Figure 7.7 Durable return-to-work (RTW) rate 50 Table 7.2 Return-to-work performance 51 Table 8.1 Scheme revenue 52 Figure 8.1 Australian Government and ACT Government premium rates 53 Figure 8.2 Workers compensation expenditure 54 Figure 8.3 Workers compensation payments 54 Table 8.2 Comcare funding ratio 55 Table 8.3 Outstanding liabilities 55 SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 4

5 1 Introduction Comcare s Vision Australia s safest workplaces Achieving our Vision To achieve the vision, Comcare works in partnership with employers and employees to reduce the incidence and cost of workplace injuries and disease. Outcomes The outcomes for which Comcare is responsible are: Outcome 1: The protection of the health, safety and welfare at work of workers covered by the Comcare scheme through education, assurance and enforcement. Outcome 2: An early and safe return to work and access to compensation for injured workers covered by the Comcare scheme through working in partnership with employers to create best practice in rehabilitation and quick and accurate management of workers compensation claims. Outcome 3: Access to compensation for people with asbestos-related diseases where the Commonwealth has a liability through the management of claims. Comcare was established as a statutory authority under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (SRC Act) and reports to the responsible Minister (the Deputy Prime Minister as Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations). Comcare is required to support the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission (SRCC) in exercising its functions. In exercising its functions, the SRCC is responsible for the scheme s regulatory framework including occupational health and safety (OHS), rehabilitation and workers compensation. Comcare administers both the Commonwealth s statutory framework for rehabilitation and workers compensation under the SRC Act, and its OHS framework under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1991 (OHS Act). The OHS Act prescribes employers and employees workplace health and safety responsibilities. Employers covered by the OHS Act pay an annual contribution for the regulatory, policy and advisory functions administered by Comcare. The SRC Act makes Commonwealth authorities and entities accountable for workers compensation injuries and diseases through the payment of annual premiums. Premium paying employers include Australian Government agencies and statutory authorities (excluding the Australian Defence Force) and the ACT Government. Under the SRC Act, certain Commonwealth authorities and eligible private corporations may apply for a licence to selfinsure. Licensed self-insurers meet the cost of their workers compensation liabilities and either manage their own workers compensation claims or have them managed by a third party claims manager. Licensed self-insurers are also covered by the OHS Act. Together, the two legislative Acts, the SRC Act and the OHS Act, are known as the Comcare scheme, which provides all scheme employers with an integrated safety, rehabilitation and compensation system, no matter what Australian state or territory an employer operates in or where its employees are located. Scheme performance information presented in this Compendium has been compiled from a variety of sources including workers compensation claims, OHS incident notifications, survey data and financial reports. Claims based data can be subject to development and performance information may therefore be updated when reported in future editions of this Compendium. SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 5

6 2 Highlights As at 30 June 2009, the Comcare scheme experienced: a 41 per cent reduction in the incidence of accepted claims since a 36 per cent reduction since in the frequency of claims with one day or more time lost from work a 45 per cent increase from 30 June 2005 in the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees covered by the SRC Act a 43 per cent increase from 30 June 2005 in the number of FTE employees covered by the OHS Act an increase in the number of licensed self-insurers from 8 in 2005 to 29 a 140 per cent increase from 30 June 2005 in the number of FTE employees in the licensed self-insurer sector covered by the OHS Act greater diversity in the industries and occupational groups being regulated an 88 per cent durable return-to-work rate (Australian Government employers) the highest in Australia and significantly above the Australian average of 72 per cent (Australian and New Zealand Return to Work Monitor ) a premium rate of 1.36 per cent in (Australian Government employers), which represents a 23 per cent reduction since the second lowest average standardised premium rate in Australia for (Comparative Performance Monitoring Report, December 2009) a positive funding ratio of 110 per cent as at 30 June SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 6

7 3 Coverage Figure 3.1 provides an overview of the Comcare scheme and shows the differences in coverage between the SRC Act and the OHS Act. The OHS Act covers premium payers, licensed self-insurers and the Australian Defence Force (ADF). Since 2004, ADF members, while covered by the OHS Act, are covered for workers compensation by the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (MRC Act). The SRC Act covers Australian Government and ACT Government premium payers and licensed self-insurers. ACT Government employees are covered by separate ACT Government OHS legislation. Figure 3.1 Comcare scheme 2009 OHS Act Duties of care Australian Defence Force Licensed self-insurers Australian Government premium payers ACT Government premium Employer protects health and safety of its employees at work Employer protects health and safety of its employees at work Employer manages claims Comcare manages claims Employer meets liabilities Comcare meets liabilities Employer manages rehabilitation Employer manages rehabilitation Discharging of liabilities SRC Act SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 7

8 3.1 SRC scheme Figure 3.2 shows the number of full time equivalent (FTE) employees covered by the SRC Act between 30 June 2005 and 30 June The SRC scheme includes all Australian and ACT government premium payers and licensed self-insurers. In recent years the scheme has experienced considerable growth, largely attributable to a significant increase in the number of employers that have been granted a license to self-insure under the SRC Act. As at 30 June 2005 the scheme included eight licensed self-insurers, increasing to 29 as at 30 June The fact that the scheme applies in every Australian state and territory is an attractive feature to national employers who would otherwise operate in up to eight different OHS and workers compensation jurisdictions. As at 30 June 2009, there were approximately FTE employees covered by the SRC Act from premium payers (including the ACT Government) and from licensed self-insurers. This represents a 45 per cent increase in the number of FTE employees covered by the SRC Act since 30 June Notably, since 30 June 2005, there has been a 122 per cent increase in the number of FTE employees of licensed self-insurers, which reflects the significant growth in this sector of the scheme. Consequently, as at 30 June 2009, licensed self-insurers accounted for around 44 per cent of total FTE employees covered by the SRC Act, up from 29 per cent at 30 June During the same period the number of FTE employees within premium payers increased by 14 per cent. Figure 3.2 Figure 3.2 SRC Act coverage SRC Act coverage 400 Number of FTE employees ('000) % 71% 32% 68% 37% 63% 42% 58% 44% 56% 0 30 Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun 2009 Premium payers Licensed self-insurers SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 8

9 3.2 OHS scheme Figure 3.3 shows the total number of FTE employees covered by the OHS Act between 30 June 2005 and 30 June Employers covered by the OHS Act include the Australian Government premium payers, licensed self-insurers and the ADF. Employers covered by the OHS Act pay an annual contribution for the regulatory, policy and advisory functions administered by Comcare. The total number of FTE employees covered by the OHS Act has steadily increased each year for the last three years. As at 30 June 2009, approximately FTE employees were covered under the OHS Act. This coverage consisted of FTE employees from premium payers, from licensed self-insurers and from the ADF, representing a 43 per cent increase in the number of FTE employees covered since 30 June The significant increase in the number of FTE employees covered by the OHS Act is largely due to legislative changes and the increased number of licensed self-insurers covered by the scheme. Legislative amendments in March 2007 extended the coverage of the OHS Act to previously ineligible licensed self-insurers. Since 30 June 2005, the number of employees of licensed self-insurers covered by the OHS Act has increased by 141 per cent, increasing the proportion of the licensed selfinsured sector of the scheme from 24 per cent to 40 per cent. The increase in the number of licensed self-insurers covered by the OHS Act has also led to an increase in the diversity of occupations and risk profiles within the scheme. Section 4, Scheme profile, has further detail on this topic. Figure 3.3 Figure 3.3 OHS Act coverage OHS Act coverage 450 Number of FTE employees ('000) % 14% 15% 18% 18% 38% 40% 33% 24% 23% 58% 59% 52% 48% 46% 30 Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun 2009 Premium payers Licensed self-insurers ADF SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 9

10 4 Scheme profile This section summarises the demographics of the scheme including the industry classification, employer size and geographical location of employers covered by the SRC Act. 4.1 Industry classification Figure 4.1 provides a breakdown of FTE employees covered under the SRC Act by ANZSIC 1 industrial classification as at 30 June The data shows that approximately or 42 per cent of FTE employees were employed in the public administration and safety industry, (16 per cent) were employed in the financial and insurance services industry, (15 per cent) were employed in the transport, postal and warehousing industry and approximately (13 per cent) were employed in information, media and telecommunications industry. The increase in the number of FTE employees covered by the SRC Act, particularly those from licensed self-insurers, has resulted in the scheme covering a more diverse range of industries than previously. This has altered the risk profile of the scheme. Figure 4.1 SRC Act coverage by industry classification as at 30 June 2009 Public administration and safety Financial and isnurance services Transport, postal and warehousing Information media and telecommunications Professional, scientific and technical services Education and training Health care and social assistance Construction Electricty, gas, water and waste services Manufacturing Other industries Number of FTE employees ('000) 1. ANZSIC 2006 Australian & New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) 2006 (cat no ) SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 10

11 4.1.1 Australian and ACT government premium payers by industry classification Table 4.1 provides a breakdown of Australian and ACT government premium payers by industry classification as at 30 June Of the 190 premium paying employers, 117 operated within the public administration and safety industry accounting for approximately FTE employees (74 per cent of premium payers). Public administration and safety covers the following sub-divisions: public administration (central government, state government, local government, justice and government representation) defence public order, safety and regulatory services. The remaining employees worked in a range of industries including: professional, scientific and technical services (six per cent) education and training (five per cent). Table 4.1 Australian and ACT Government premium payers by industry as at 30 June 2009 Industry Number of employers Total FTE employees % of total FTE employees Public administration and safety % Public administration % Defence* % Public order, safety and regulatory services % Professional, scientific and technical services % Education and training % Financial and insurance services % Health care and social assistance % Information media and telecommunications % Transport, postal and warehousing % All other industries % All industries % * This comprises Defence civilians and excludes ADF personnel who are not covered by the SRC Act. SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 11

12 4.1.2 Licensed self-insurers by industry classification Table 4.2 provides a breakdown of licensed self-insurers by industry classification as at 30 June Approximately 88 per cent of licensed self-insurer employees worked in three major industry divisions including: financial and insurance services (32 per cent) transport, postal and warehousing (31 per cent) information media and telecommunications (25 per cent). Table 4.2 Licensed self-insurers by industry as at 30 June 2009 Industry Number of employers Total FTE employees % of total FTE employees Financial and insurance services % Transport, postal and warehousing % Information media and telecommunications % Construction % Manufacturing % All other industries % All industries % SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 12

13 4.2 Employer size Table 4.3 provides a breakdown of employers covered by the SRC Act according to employer size (small, medium and large) as at 30 June Approximately 96 per cent of employees covered by the SRC Act worked for large employers consisting of 500 or more employees. Large employers represented approximately 39 per cent of the total number of employers in the scheme. While 39 per cent of premium payers were small employers (less than 100 employees) and 29 per cent were medium sized employers (100 to 499 employees), combined, these employed only seven per cent of all employees within premium payers. The remaining 93 per cent of employees work for large employers. Approximately 99 per cent of employees from licensed self-insurers worked for large employers. Table 4.3 SRC Act employers by size as at 30 June 2009 Employer size Premium payers Number % of total Licensed selfinsurers Number % of total Number Scheme % of total Small (less than 100 FTE employees) Medium (100 to 499 FTE employees) Large (500 or more FTE employees) All employers Employers FTE employees less than 1 Employers FTE employees Employers FTE employees Employers FTE employees SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 13

14 4.3 Location Table 4.4 and Figure 4.2 show the geographic distribution of employees covered by the SRC Act across all Australian states and territories as at 30 June Comcare has offices in each capital city (except Hobart and Darwin) and in Newcastle to service the needs of the scheme. As at 30 June 2009, 27 per cent of employees covered by the SRC Act were employed in NSW, with approximately 23 per cent employed in Victoria. Approximately 23 per cent of employees were employed in the ACT; however this represents 40 per cent of all employees within premium payers. These figures reflect the presence of a large number of Australian Government entities based in Canberra. Table 4.4 Scheme FTE employees by location as at 30 June 2009 State Premium payers ( 000) Licensed selfinsurers ( 000) Total ( 000) % of Total NSW % Victoria % ACT % Queensland % WA % SA % Tasmania % NT % Total % Figure 4.2 Scheme FTE employees by location as at 30 June 2009 Comcare offices 1% 12% 6% Brisbane Perth 6% Adelaide 27% Newcastle 23% Sydney Canberra 23% Melbourne 2% SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 14

15 5 Occupational health and safety The data in this Section is sourced from claims lodged under the SRC Act with Comcare and licensed self-insurers and those OHS incidents required to be notified by employers under the OHS Act. 5.1 Workers compensation claims Comcare maintains a data warehouse on behalf of the SRCC which contains unit claims data supplied by licensed self-insurers and Comcare for all claims lodged under the SRC Act. The records incorporate occurrence details, incapacity determinations, claim payments, medical, rehabilitation and disputation data. While total claim costs and estimates of outstanding liability are available for claims managed by Comcare, only actual claim payments are recorded for all claims managed by licensed self-insurers. Accordingly, it is not possible to report aggregate scheme data relating to total claims costs within this Compendium Incidence of accepted claims Figure 5.1 shows the incidence of accepted claims for the period to for premium payers, licensed self-insurers and for the overall scheme. There has been a reduction of approximately 41 per cent in the incidence of claims accepted across the scheme since In the same period, the incidence of claims accepted by licensed self-insurers has remained approximately double that of the premium payers. In , licensed self-insurers accepted approximately 35 claims per 1000 FTE employees, compared to approximately 16 claims per 1000 FTE employees for premium payers. Significant reductions in the incidence of claims for both premium payers and licensed self-insurers occurred during This was, in part, attributable to changes to the SRC Act in April The changes removed workers compensation coverage for non-work related journeys and recess breaks and strengthened the required relationship with work for a disease claim to be compensable. Figure 5.1 Figure 5.1 Incidence of accepted claims Incidence of accepted claims 70 Claims per 1000 FTE employees Premium payers Licensed self-insurers Scheme SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 15

16 5.1.2 Frequency of claims with one day or more time lost (non-commuting) Figure 5.2 shows the frequency rate for claims with one day or more time lost (excluding commuting claims). In , the scheme recorded 6.7 claims with one day lost time per million hours worked a 36 per cent reduction since The higher frequency rate recorded by licensed self-insurers reflects, in part, differences in risk profile between premium payers and licensed self-insurers. Figure 5.2 Figure 5.2 Frequency of claims with one day lost time 14 Accepted claims per million hours worked Premium payers Licensed self-insurers Scheme SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 16

17 5.1.3 Incidence of claims with one week or more time lost (non-commuting) Figure 5.3 shows the incidence of claims with one week lost time (excluding commuting claims) for the period to Workers compensation claims vary in severity, including claims for medical treatment only, as well as claims involving extended time lost from work. During , 47 per cent of all new claims involved time lost from work and 36 per cent accumulated one week or more time lost. The data shows that since , the incidence of claims reaching one week or more time lost has decreased by 37 per cent for premium payers and by 28 per cent for licensed self-insurers. However, despite ongoing reductions being reported by the scheme between and , an increase in the incidence of these claims was recorded in This was due to an increase in the incidence of claims recorded by both premium payers and licensed self-insurers. Figure 5.3 Figure 5.3 Incidence of claims with one week or more lost time Incidence of claims with one week or more lost time 14 Claims per 1000 FTE employees Premium payers Licensed self-insurers Scheme SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 17

18 5.1.4 Breakdown of injury and disease Figures 5.4 and 5.5 show the breakdown of accepted claims by injury and disease for premium payers and for licensed selfinsurers for the period to A decrease in the incidence of both accepted injury and disease claims was observed between and The most substantial reductions occurred in , which can be attributed, in part, to legislative changes implemented in April 2007 (see Section 5.1.1). Further, on 1 July 2005, licensed self-insurers implemented changes made to the Type of Occurrence Classification System (TOOCS), by the former Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC). TOOCS is used to classify the circumstances surrounding the occurrence of injuries/diseases. Certain conditions classified as injuries under the previous version of TOOCS were re-classified as diseases under the new version. Since , there has been a general increase in the proportion of accepted disease claims for both premium payers and licensed self-insurers. However substantial differences were observed in the proportion of injury and disease claims between premium payers and licensed self-insurers. This can be attributed, in part, to the different risk profiles of each sector. Figure 5.4 Figure 5.4 Accepted claims by injury/disease (premium payers) Claims per 1000 FTE employees % 67% 34% 66% 39% 61% 36% 64% 49% 51% Injury Disease Figure 5.5 Figure 5.5 Accepted claims by injury/disease by injury/disease (licensed self-insurers) (licensed self-insurers) % Claims per 1000 FTE employees % 18% 82% 16% 84% 22% 78% 19% 81% Injury Disease SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 18

19 5.1.5 Breakdown by mechanism of incident Figure 5.6 shows accepted claims by mechanism of incident for the 12 months to 30 June 2009 for both premium payers and licensed self-insurers. The mechanism of incident identifies the overall action, exposure or event that best describes the circumstances that resulted in the most serious injury or disease. Body stressing was the most prevalent mechanism of incident over the reporting period. In the 12 months to 30 June 2009 around half of all accepted claims for both premium payers and licensed self-insurers were due to body stressing. Falls, trips and slips also represented a significant proportion of claims, accounting for 20 per cent of premium payers claims and 16 per cent of licensed self-insurers claims. Being hit by moving objects accounted for eight per cent of premium payers and 13 per cent of licensed self-insurers claims. Mental stress was a significant cause of claims for premium payers, accounting for eight per cent of claims, compared to two per cent of claims for licensed self-insurers. Figure 5.6 Accepted claims by mechanism of incident 12 months to 30 Figure 5.6 Accepted claims by mechanism of incident 12 months to 30 June % 45% 40% 47% 44% Premium payers Licensed self-insurers Percentage of accepted claims 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 20% 16% 13% 14% 5% 0% Body Stressing Falls, trips and slips 8% 8% Hit by moving objects 2% Mental stress 6% 6% 7% 5% Vehicle incidents and other Hitting objects with body 5% All Other SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 19

20 5.2 Major claim drivers Table 5.1 provides a summary of accepted claims by mechanism of incident for the period to The data covers premium payers only. For the period from to , body stressing injuries/diseases accounted for approximately 42 per cent of all claims for premium payers and 37 per cent of total claim costs with an average total cost* per claim of approximately $33K. In the 12 months to 30 June 2009 body stressing injuries/diseases represented 47 per cent of claims and 43 per cent of total claim costs, with an average total cost per claim of approximately $45K. Between and mental stress claims accounted for nine per cent of all claims, however these claims represented 34 per cent of total claim costs, with an average total cost per claim of approximately $149K. In the 12 months to 30 June 2009, mental stress claims accounted for eight per cent of all claims and 23 per cent of total claim costs, with an average total cost per claim of $140K. It should be noted that at this time the average total cost per claim is an estimate and may change as the claims mature. While not shown in this figure, the effect of the removal of coverage for non-work related journeys in April 2007 reduced the incidence of vehicle incidents within the scheme. Vehicle incidents and other accounted for six per cent of claims from premium payers in the 12 months to 30 June Table 5.1 Accepted claims by mechanism of incident (premium payers) Mechanism of incident % of all accepted claims to % of total claim costs* Average total cost per claim ($) Body stressing 42% 37% Falls, trips and slips of a person 20% 13% Vehicle incidents and other 11% 7% Mental stress 9% 34% Hit by moving objects 8% 4% Hitting objects with the body 5% 2% Chemicals and other substances 2% 2% Sound and pressure 2% 1% Heat, radiation and electricity 1% Less than 1% Biological factors Less than 1% Less than 1% All mechanisms of incident 100% 100% months to 30 June 2009 Body stressing 47% 43% Falls, trips and slips of a person 20% 18% Vehicle incidents and other 6% 5% Mental stress 8% 23% Hit by moving objects 8% 5% Hitting objects with the body 6% 2% Chemicals and other substances 2% 2% Sound and pressure 1% Less than 1% Heat, radiation and electricity 1% Less than 1% Biological factors Less than 1% 1% All mechanisms of incident 100% 100% * Average total cost is the cost to date plus estimated outstanding liability SRCC AUSTRALIA S SAFEST WORKPLACES Compendium of OHS & Workers Compensation Statistics 20