scholarly journals Characterising the Burden of Work-Related Injuries in South Australia: A 15-Year Data Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 2015
Author(s):  
Jianjun Xiang ◽  
Murthy Mittinty ◽  
Michael Xiaoliang Tong ◽  
Dino Pisaniello ◽  
Peng Bi
Keyword(s):  
Labour Force ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Young Male ◽  
Community Services ◽  
Workers Compensation ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Severe Injuries ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Compensation Payment

To characterise the burden of work-related injuries in South Australia, workers’ compensation claim data were obtained from SafeWork South Australia between 2000 and 2014. Descriptive analyses were performed to investigate the burden of work-related injuries by age, gender, occupation, industry, and nature and mechanism of injury. Dunn’s test was used to compare the injury costs and working days lost by industry and occupation. Ordinary linear regression was used to investigate the age-injury cost association. A total of 464,139 workers’ compensation claims were reported during the 15-year period in South Australia, with an overall rate of 4.6 claims per 100 employees, resulting in a total of 20,861,001 working days lost and AU$14.9 billion dollars of compensation payment. Between 2000 to 2014, the annual claim rates, compensation payments, working days lost, and number of work-related death reduced by 59.3, 73.8, 87.1, and 78.6 percent, respectively, while the median compensation payment increased by 67.3% from AU$968 to AU$1620. A 1-year increase in age was associated with a 2.1% (Rate Ratio, RR = 1.021, 95% CI: 1.020–1.022) increase in compensation costs and a 1.3% (RR = 1.013, 95% CI: 1.012–1.020) increase in working days lost. Work-related injury rates are declining in most sectors, however some workers, especially young male technicians and labourers in the community services industry, remain at higher risk. Challenges for workers’ health and safety include the aging labour force, vehicle incidents, and severe injuries among new and foreign-born workers.

scholarly journals O2C.5 Increasing costs of occupational injuries in association with high ambient temperatures in adelaide, south australia, 2000–2014

2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. A17.2-A17
Author(s):  
Jianjun Xiang ◽  
Alana Hansen ◽  
Dino Pisaniello ◽  
Peng Bi
Keyword(s):  
Older Workers ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Retail Trade ◽  
Maximum Temperature ◽  
Workers Compensation ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Compensation Claims ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Compensation Costs

ObjectiveTo investigate the impact of ambient temperature on compensation costs due to work-related injuries, and to provide an evidence base about the economic benefits of developing workplace heat prevention strategies in a warming climate.MethodsWorkers’ compensation claims obtained from SafeWork South Australia for 2000–2014 were transformed into daily time series format and merged with meteorological data. The relationship between temperature and compensation costs were estimated using a generalized linear model after controlling for long-term trends, seasonality, and day of week. A piecewise linear spline function was used to account for non-linearity.ResultsA total of 4 64 139 workers’ compensation claims were reported during the 15 year period in South Australia, resulting in AU$14.9 billion dollars compensation payment. Overall, it is a reversed V-shaped temperature-cost association. A 1°C increase in maximum temperature was associated with a 1.1% (95% CI, 0.2%–2.0%) increase in daily injury compensation expenditure below 35.2°C. Specifically, significant increases of injury costs were observed in males (1.4%, 95% CI 0.3%–2.5%), young workers (3.0%, 95% CI 1.2%–4.9%), older workers≥65 years (2.4%, 95% CI 0.5%–4.4%), labourers (2.7%, 95% CI 0.5%–4.8%), machinery operators and drivers (3.5%, 95% CI 1.6%–5.3%) and the following industries: agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting (12.3%, 95% CI 2.2%–23.3%); construction (7.8%, 95% CI 0.02%–16.3%); and wholesale and retail trade (2.4%, 95% CI 0.5%–4.4%). Costs for compensating occupational burns and ‘skin and subcutaneous tissue diseases’ increased by 3.1% (95% CI 1.2%–5.1%) and 2.7% (95% CI 0.1%–5.4%) respectively, with a 1°C increase in maximum temperature.ConclusionThere is a significant association between temperature and work-related injury compensation costs in Adelaide, South Australia for certain subgroups. Heat attributable workers’ compensation costs may increase with the predicted rising temperature.

The Costs of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Automotive Manufacturing

2000 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Punnett
Keyword(s):  
Musculoskeletal Disorders ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Labor Turnover ◽  
Recent Experience ◽  
Workers Compensation ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Automotive Manufacturing ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders ◽  
Compensation Claims

Inadequate application of ergonomic principles to the design of workplaces and individual jobs has adverse consequences for worker health and safety, especially in terms of strains, sprains, and other musculoskeletal disorders. In addition to the human pain and suffering, other losses are externalized to workers, with adverse financial and psychosocial impacts. There are also costs to employers through workers' compensation claims, scrap, and decreased production quality, medical insurance premiums, labor turnover, and adverse impacts on labor relations, although many of these are not linked by traditional accounting methods to ergonomic problems per se. Data collected in five plants of two major U.S. automotive manufacturing companies in the last decade have been used to estimate some of the costs associated with work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), only some of which resulted in workers' compensation claims. In one plant in 1984–85, the payroll cost of all back and shoulder disorders was at least $320 per year per worker, not including workers' compensation premiums or claims paid. A large proportion of these costs were accrued by “unreported” cases, that is, cases that either had never been reported to the plant clinic or had been reported in the past and were considered administratively to have recovered. In the other four plants, annual costs associated with in-plant medical visits for MSDs in 1989–93 were almost as high as those resulting from compensation claims. At least one-half of these disorders were estimated to be attributable to physical ergonomic exposures in the workplace and thus preventable. These data are consistent with estimates by others that the real costs to employers are at least two to three times the amount paid in workers' compensation cases, and that at least 50 percent of all work-related musculoskeletal disorders among the working population could be prevented by appropriate ergonomic job design. Furthermore, recent experience with ergonomics programs in various manufacturing and service settings shows that they are cost-effective in reducing morbidity, work absenteeism, and workers' compensation claims; payback periods for workplace modifications can be as short as a few months. Further investigations should explore the reasons that monetary costs and other impacts on profitability do not always motivate employers to improve working conditions.

Temporary Refugee and Migration Visas in Australia: An Occupational Health and Safety Hazard

2021 ◽  
pp. 002073142098068
Author(s):  
Anna Ziersch ◽  
Moira Walsh ◽  
Clemence Due ◽  
Alex Reilly
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Safety Hazard ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Formal Complaint ◽  
And Migration

Employment and work-related exploitation and discrimination are important social determinants of health. However, little is known about the experiences of people on temporary visas in Australia, particularly those on refugee visas. This article reports on a study of people living on temporary visas in South Australia and their experiences of workforce exploitation and discrimination and impacts on health. Interviews were conducted with 30 people: 11 on non-refugee temporary visas and 19 on refugee temporary visas. Data was analyzed thematically. Analysis identified experiences of exploitation and discrimination in the Australian labor market that included difficulties securing work, underpayment, overwork, and hazardous workplaces. These experiences had negative health effects, particularly on mental health. None had made a formal complaint about their treatment, citing the precarity of their visas, difficulties finding an alternative job, and lack of knowledge about what to do. The impacts were especially evident for refugees who were also grappling with pre-settlement trauma and ongoing uncertainties about their future protection. Overall, these findings of discrimination and exploitation in the workplace and subsequent ill health highlight the pervasive impact of neoliberal agendas and stress the need for industrial, immigration, and welfare reform to protect workers on temporary visas.

Work absence due to compensable RTCs in Victoria, Australia

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-17
Author(s):  
Shannon Elise Gray ◽  
Belinda J Gabbe ◽  
Alex Collie
Keyword(s):  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Negative Binomial Regression ◽  
Research Database ◽  
Work Absence ◽  
Income Support ◽  
Severe Injuries ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Working Age ◽  
Human Costs

IntroductionRTC burden is commonly measured using fatality or hospitalisation statistics. However, non-fatal and less severe injuries contribute substantial economic and human costs, including work absence. In Victoria, Australia, two major compensation systems provide income support to employed people injured in RTCs; workers’ compensation (if RTC occurred during work) and an RTC-specific compensation system. This study aimed to describe the number and rate of episodes of work absence due to compensable RTC and determine factors associated with work-related RTC resulting in work absence.MethodsAdministrative data for working-age people (15–65 years) with accepted compensation claims between 1 July 2003 and 30 June 2013 were extracted from Victoria’s Compensation Research Database and analysed. Injured people receiving at least one day of income support were retained. Rate calculations used Victoria’s labour force as the denominator and negative binomial regression determined any time-based trend changes. Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine odds of the RTC being work-related.ResultsThere were 40 677 claims made by workers with an RTC injury that consequently missed work, averaging 4068 claims per year at a rate of 12.9 per 100 000 working population. Work-related cases contributed 17.4% (N=7061). Males, older adults and RTCs involving heavy vehicles, buses, trains and trams had higher odds of a work-related RTC resulting in work absence. More severe injuries tended not to be work-related.ConclusionsWork absence due to RTC injury constitutes a substantial burden, and this measure could provide a valuable addition to conventional RTC statistics.

scholarly journals Differences in Work Disability Duration for Immigrants and Canadian-Born Workers in British Columbia, Canada

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (22) ◽  
pp. 11794
Author(s):  
Sonja Senthanar ◽  
Mieke Koehoorn ◽  
Lillian Tamburic ◽  
Stephanie Premji ◽  
Ute Bültmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Work Disability ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Workers Compensation ◽  
Disability Benefits ◽  
Severe Injuries ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Fracture Cohort ◽  
Compensation Claims ◽  
The Relationship

This study aimed to investigate differences in work disability duration among immigrants (categorized as economic, family member or refugee/other classification upon arrival to Canada) compared to Canadian-born workers with a work-related injury in British Columbia. Immigrants and Canadian-born workers were identified from linked immigration records with workers’ compensation claims for work-related back strain, connective tissue, concussion and fracture injuries requiring at least one paid day of work disability benefits between 2009 to 2015. Quantile regression investigated the relationship between immigration classification and predicted work disability days (defined from injury date to end of compensation claim, up to 365 days) and modeled at the 25th, 50th and 75th percentile of the distribution of the disability days. With a few exceptions, immigrants experienced greater predicted disability days compared to Canadian-born workers within the same injury cohort. The largest differences were observed for family and refugee/other immigrant classification workers, and, in particular, for women within these classifications, compared to Canadian-born workers. For example, at the 50th percentile of the distribution of disability days, we observed a difference of 34.1 days longer for refugee/other women in the concussion cohort and a difference of 27.5 days longer for family classification women in the fracture cohort. Economic immigrants had comparable disability days with Canadian-born workers, especially at the 25th and 50th percentiles of the distribution. Immigrant workers’ longer disability durations may be a result of more severe injuries or challenges navigating the workers’ compensation system with delays in seeking disability benefits and rehabilitation services. Differences by immigrant classification speak to vulnerabilities or inequities upon arrival in Canada that persist after entry to the workforce and warrant further investigation for early mitigation strategies.

Impairment Tutorial: Rating Facial Disfigurement After an Injury

1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 6-6
Author(s):  
Marc T. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Current Work ◽  
Workers Compensation ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Facial Disfigurement ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Work Related Injury ◽  
Compensation Claim ◽  
Impairment Ratings

Abstract This article discusses two important cases that involve the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (AMA Guides). First, in Vargas v Industrial Com’n of Arizona, a claimant had a pre-existing non–work-related injury to his right knee as well as a work-related injury, and the issue was apportionment of the pre-existing injury. The court held that, under Arizona's statute, the impairment from the pre-existing injury should be subtracted from the current work-related impairment. In the second case, Colorado courts addressed the issue of apportionment in a workers’ compensation claim in which the pre-existing injury was asymptomatic at the time of the work-related injury (Askey v Industrial Claim Appeals Office). In this case, the court held that the worker's benefits should not be reduced to account for an asymptomatic pre-existing condition that could not be rated accurately using the AMA Guides. The AMA Guides bases impairment ratings on anatomic or physiologic loss of function, and if an examinee presents with two or more sequential injuries and calculable impairments, the AMA Guides can be used to apportion between pre-existing and subsequent impairments. Courts often use the AMA Guides to decide statutorily determined benefits and are subject to interpretation by courts and administrative bodies whose interpretations may vary from state to state.

Independent commissions and labour migration: The British MAC

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-32
Author(s):  
Philip L. Martin ◽  
Martin Ruhs
Keyword(s):  
Labour Force ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
Foreign Workers ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Independent Evidence ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Labour Immigration ◽  
British Labour ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
The Uk

The independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) was created in 2007 after a decade in which the share of foreign-born workers in the British labour force doubled to 13 per cent. The initial core mandate of the MAC was to provide “independent, evidence-based advice to government on specific skilled occupations in the labour market where shortages exist which can sensibly be filled by migration.” The MAC's answers to these 3-S questions, viz, is the occupation for which employers are requesting foreign workers skilled, are there labour shortages, and is admitting foreign workers a sensible response, have improved the quality of the debate over the “need” for foreign workers in the UK by highlighting some of the important trade-offs inherent in migration policy making. The MAC can clarify migration trade-offs in labour immigration policy, but cannot decide the ultimately political questions about whose interests should be prioritised and how competing policy objectives should be balanced.

What Prevents Adolescent Girls from Transitioning from School to Work in India? Insights from an Exploratory Study in Rajasthan

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-48
Author(s):  
Shireen J. Jejeebhoy ◽  
A. K. Shiva Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Odds Ratio ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Labour Force Participation ◽  
School To Work ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Work Transition ◽  
Natal Home ◽  
Traditional Norms ◽  
Women In India ◽  
Depth Interviews

Female labour force participation among young women in India is disturbingly low, and yet little evidence is available regarding the factors likely to affect the school-to-work transition among the young. Data from 325 girls aged 15–19 years and in-depth interviews with 10 of these girls and 9 of their mothers in one block of Jodhpur district, obtained from a mixed-methods study in Rajasthan, explore girls’ aspirations for professional, administrative or technical careers and factors likely constraining or facilitating their articulation of such aspirations. Findings show that girls who aspired for a professional, administrative or technical career were more likely than others to display better learning outcomes (odds ratio = 1.31), greater work-related agency and a readiness to overcome community obstacles (odds ratio, 1.28) than those who did not aspire for a professional, administrative or technical career. They were also more likely to be unmarried or married but residing in the natal home (odds ratio = 2.97) and have supportive parents (odds ratio = 1.37). In-depth interviews corroborate these obstacles. Findings underscore the need to empower girls and break down traditional norms held by girls, parents and communities. On the programme front, it is important to ensure empowerment programmes for girls and address the quality and girl-friendliness of education and vocational training opportunities.

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