Report of operations
Improving the safety and rehabilitation of employees and the compensation
services we provide
A cornerstone of the scheme administered by Comcare is the recognition of the importance of an integrated approach to health and safety, rehabilitation and compensation policies and processes within workplaces. The proper interaction of these elements helps to minimise the incidence and duration of work-related injury.
Comcare aims to provide integrated and innovative solutions to assist agencies in preventing and managing workplace injury and disease. The key elements of our injury/disease prevention and management model are that agencies
- integrate responsibility for occupational health and safety, injury/disease management and rehabilitation into mainstream management systems and the core functions of the organisation
- ensure that overall responsibility and accountability for occupational health and safety and injury management rests with senior management
- comply with relevant legislation
- develop systems to measure performance and ensure ongoing improvement
- adopt a strategic risk management approach to occupational health and safety and injury/disease management allowing implementation of effective and targeted injury prevention strategies
- ensure effective return to work and injury/disease management in order to minimise the human and financial cost of any work related injury.
Leadership and Accountability Strategy
In July 2003, the then Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, the Hon Tony Abbott MP announced stage two of a strategy to raise the standard of safety in Australian Government workplaces.
Comcare’s leadership strategy is designed to remind Australian Government managers of their responsibilities for prevention and injury/disease management.
In launching stage two of the strategy, Mr Abbott said that ‘the Government is committed to improving Australia’s occupational health and safety performance and expects its own agencies to take more effective action to limit the human and financial costs of workplace injury.’
Under this strategy, Comcare has
- encouraged large and medium-sized Australian Government premium paying employers to adopt targets for improving health and safety and injury/disease management over the next ten years (see below). These targets are linked to the National Occupational Health and Safety Strategy 2002 – 2012 but are reinforced by two additional targets aimed at reducing the amount of time off work taken by injured and ill employees
- provided Australian Government leaders and their agencies with briefings, technical support, training and information packages so that they can take a more active role in improving agency performance
- developed guidance material on preventing and managing high risk injuries/diseases, such as psychological injuries.
Stage one of the strategy was launched in July 2002. Stage two involved Comcare expanding the range of resources available to Australian Government leaders and their agencies and included a focus on:
- strategies for developing a positive workplace culture, conducive to better prevention and injury/disease management – including managing performance and change
- the need to act early to prevent injuries/disease and to deliver early return to work support
- preventing injuries/diseases in a changing labour market – such as by making occupational health and safety an integral part of managing contracts
- putting in place agency targets and performance monitoring and assessment tools.
Target setting
Target setting has emerged as key to engaging the commitment of executive teams in improving safety and injury/disease management, and is an important element of Comcare’s Leadership and Accountability Strategy. Targets influence forward planning and the development of practical measures to generate better outcomes in health and safety.
The National OHS Strategy which was endorsed by all Workplace Relations Ministers in May 2002 sets two national targets as a step towards achieving its national vision of Australian workplaces free from death, injury and disease. The first national target seeks a significant and continual reduction in the incidence of work-related fatalities with a reduction of at least 20% by 30 June 2012. The second national target seeks to reduce the incidence of workplace injury by at least 40% by 30 June 2012.
In relation to these targets, milestones were also agreed by Ministers which require specific progress to be achieved by 30 June 2007.
The Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission (the Commission) adopted the National OHS Strategy targets and went further by setting a zero target for workplace fatalities. This target excludes deaths from disease and commuting, and takes into account declarations by the Minister for Defence of warlike and non-warlike operations for military personnel. The Commission also extended the workplace injury target to include disease and commuting injuries.
Comcare decided to supplement the National OHS Strategy targets with two additional targets; one to emphasise the need for reductions in time off work for injury/disease and the other to emphasise the timeliness of rehabilitation intervention. These targets aim to reduce the average number of weeks lost through work-related injury and disease by at least 40%, and to reduce the average weeks taken for return to work activity to commence by 90% by 2012. As well as aiming to reduce costs to employers these targets seek to help return employees to a normal working life as quickly and safely as possible.
In 2002 – 03 Comcare invited the leaders of Australian Government premium paying agencies with more than 1000 employees to sign a statement of commitment to give effect to the targets. In 2003 – 04 this invitation was extended to agencies with more than 500 employees. By 30 June 2004, 28 agency leaders had committed their agencies to the targets – these agencies employ 79% of the employees of all Australian Government premium paying agencies.
Comcare has also been working with the ACT Government (which is a Commonwealth authority for the purposes of the SRC Act). On 13 February 2004, the Chief Minister, John Stanhope, launched ‘Workplace Injury Improvement Targets’ for the ACT public sector, which adopts the four targets mentioned above.
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services
- Airservices Australia
- Australian Bureau of Statistics
- Australian Crime Commission
- Australian Customs Service
- Australian Electoral Commission
- Australian Federal Police
- Australian National University
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
- Australian Prudential Regulation Authority
- Australian Securities and Investments Commission
- Australian Taxation Office
- Centrelink
- Civil Aviation Safety Authority
- Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
- Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
- Department of Defence
- Department of Education, Science and Training
- Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
- Department of Finance and Administration
- Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
- Department of Health and Ageing
- Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs
- Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources
- Department of Parliamentary Services
- Department of Veterans’ Affairs
- Family Court of Australia
- Health Insurance Commission
Smaller agencies have been informed of the strategy, and all agencies have been provided with access to workshops to assist them to understand the targets and develop strategies to achieve them.
Strategic response to psychological injury
In 2002 – 03 Comcare reported an increase in the incidence and cost of psychological injury claims. More recent actuarial advice is that this trend will continue into the 2004 – 05 financial year and beyond.
It is crucial that agencies, in particular those agencies that are performing poorly in relation to psychological injury claims, quickly develop and implement effective ways to prevent and manage these injuries.
To this end, Comcare has developed a strategy for improving the prevention and management of psychological injuries. Key elements of the strategy include:
- awareness raising with leaders and key stakeholders
- the development of model approaches for the prevention of psychological injuries and early rehabilitation assistance
- the provision of information and the development of tools to assist employers with the process of risk assessment
- training and education programs to assist line managers to implement effective prevention
and rehabilitation strategies.
The strategy will be implemented with the involvement and participation of key stakeholders in 2004 – 05.
To be successful, most of the activities will require strong co-operative partnerships between the agencies and Comcare.
The initiatives build on previous work undertaken by Comcare and draw on consultation that Comcare has undertaken with field experts and published research on best practice approaches.
Dispute prevention and management
Comcare continues to work towards reducing the number and complexity of disputes over employees’ compensation claims decisions. During 2003 – 04, 1,768 reconsideration requests were decided by Comcare compared to 1,632 in 2002 – 03. The number of appeals to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) reduced from 768 in 2002 – 03 to 693 in 2003 – 04. The average time taken by Comcare to decide reconsiderations also reduced from 42 days in 2002 – 03 to 37 days in 2003 – 04.
Over the course of 2004 – 05, Comcare will progress a range of projects and develop additional initiatives to improve resolution of claim disputes. The projects to be implemented in 2004 – 05 include:
- Mediated case-conferencing at the reconsideration stage This project seeks to increase personal contact between the independent review officer and the claimant at the reconsideration stage to enhance opportunities for resolution.
- Reviewable Decisions Protocol This protocol involves improving the internal reconsideration process by encouraging full disclosure of medical evidence at that stage, the use of agreed medical specialists and payment of appropriate legal fees. The protocol was developed by the Commonwealth Compensation Liaison Committee (CCLC) which was established by Comcare in 2003 – 04. Details of this committee and its role are provided at page 34 of this report.
- Use of Calderbank offers In 2003 – 04 Comcare issued a Jurisdictional Policy Advice about the use of Calderbank offers. A reference to a Calderbank offer or letter is a reference to the case of Calderbank v Calderbank [1976] Fam 93 where, simply put, applicants to the AAT are encouraged to settle at a particular point in time or risk not having any future legal costs on the case paid at the finalisation of the matter (in circumstances where they receive the same or lesser outcome). Comcare and Australia Post commenced a trial of this approach on 1 July 2004 in the NSW Registry of the AAT. The trial is expected to conclude on 1 October 2004 at which time an evaluation will be conducted.
- Early settlement at the AAT Comcare has also initiated a project which explores the opportunity to reduce the length of time to decide AAT matters. The project aims to bring the parties together for a settlement conference at an earlier time than the formal AAT conference arrangements currently provide. The AAT has indicated its support for the proposed trial which is expected to commence in October 2004.
Interagency job placements
The interagency job placement program (IJPP) engages agencies to address the problem of economic and social losses that occur where employees on workers’ compensation are unable to return to their original place of work or employer following serious injury. This may occur either because those employees have been medically assessed as unable to return to work with their pre-injury employer, or because, over time, a deterioration of the relationships of all parties concerned has created barriers to effective rehabilitation. Past claims experience suggests that employees in this situation have a high possibility of long term or permanent incapacity from work.
The pilot demonstrated that the IJPP model has the capacity to contain and reduce compensation costs by facilitating the placement into safe work of injured employees with complex, high cost claims. A number of the early job placements have demonstrated durable outcomes suggesting that ongoing, substantial savings might be achievable in the longer term. Based on this assessment, the program will be expanded in 2004 – 05.