The Director's report
THE DIRECTOR
Mr Barry Leahy
Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Comcare CEO Mr Barry Leahy, is the sole ‘Director’ of Comcare for the purposes of the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997 (CAC Act).
Mr Leahy was appointed as CEO of Comcare on 2 April 2001. His experience prior to this was mainly in workplace relations. His former position was Group Manager, Workplace Relations Policy and Legal Group, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. In this role he had overall responsibility for advising the Government on occupational health and safety and workers’ compensation policy.
The CEO is the only Director and there is no Comcare ‘Board’.
PRINCIPAL OFFICE
Level 1
14 Moore Street
Canberra ACT 2601
Telephone: 1300 366 979
Facsimile: (02) 6257 5634
Website: http://www.comcare.gov.au
AUDITORS
Australian National Audit Office
Australian Capital Territory
THE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Comcare works in partnership with its customers to reduce the human and financial costs of workplace injury and disease. Comcare achieves this by
- improving the safety and rehabilitation of employees in the Commonwealth jurisdiction and the compensation services we provide
- engaging our stakeholders and customers in achieving that improvement
- supporting our people to enable them to best contribute to improving our business.
Key achievements
In 2003 – 04, Comcare undertook a number of activities to achieve its vision of 'Australia’s
Safest Workplaces'.
To improve safety and rehabilitation outcomes Comcare
- supported Australian Government leaders and their agencies in taking a more active role in creating and maintaining safe and supportive workplaces
- developed guidance material on preventing and managing high risk injuries, such as psychological injuries
- provided advice to assist agencies to assess how they are positioned to provide productive and safe workplaces for an ageing workforce
- coordinated a pilot interagency job placement program to assist agencies to address situations where employees are unable to return to their original place of work
- took steps to reduce the complexity of the claiming process to help reduce the time it takes for claims for compensation to be submitted to Comcare.
To engage our stakeholders and customers Comcare
- sought commitment from large and medium sized agencies to adopt targets for improving health and safety and injury management over the next ten years. These targets are linked to the National Occupational Health and Safety Strategy 2002 – 2012
- assisted agencies to develop and implement effective, targeted strategies to reduce the incidence and duration of workers’ compensation claims
- held customer forums to provide agencies with contemporary information on injury prevention, return to work and compensation issues
- hosted the second annual ‘Towards Australia’s Safest Workplaces’ conference
- hosted the inaugural National Rehabilitation conference ‘Leading the way in Injury Management’ which presented a range of strategies to assist with returning injured employees to work
- conducted seminars for Commonwealth health and safety representatives to equip them
to more effectively represent their designated work groups - co-hosted with the Australian Public Service Commission workshops on ‘Preventing Bullying
and Harassment in the Workplace’ - convened the Over the Horizon forum to discuss challenges confronting the jurisdiction
and consider strategies to respond - delivered an extensive range of learning and development programs to agencies
and service providers - established the Commonwealth Compensation Liaison Committee to provide a forum
to discuss legal issues that affect stakeholders in the Commonwealth compensation system - established a Licensee/Comcare Consultative Forum to facilitate communication between
self-insurers and Comcare.
To support our people to enable them to best contribute to improving our business, Comcare
- conducted a staff survey and developed a multi-level response to the issues identified
- continued to focus on developing leadership capabilities and the commitment to leadership values
- continued our commitment to ongoing learning and development including through the establishment of a Foundation Program targeted at the needs of APS1 – APS4 level staff
- reviewed Comcare’s performance management system and developed proposals
for its improvement - continued work on defining key capabilities and career paths in Comcare
- launched a staff Health and Wellbeing Strategy.
Workers' compensation premiums
Despite the efforts of Comcare and its customers, the average premium rate for Australian Government agencies in 2004 – 05 has increased to 1.67% of payroll compared with 1.43% for 2003 – 04.
The ACT Government premium rate has decreased from 3.13% to 3.07% of payroll.
The main factors impacting on premium rates for 2004 – 05 are increases in claims for psychological injury, increases in the amount of time that injured employees remain off work and increases in medical costs.
Notwithstanding the premium increase, the average Australian Government premium rate remains one of the lowest in Australia with a benefit structure that is more generous than almost all other schemes. The Comcare scheme also remains fully funded.
Psychological injury
As already mentioned, a key contributor to the increase in premiums is the continuing increase
in the incidence of claims for psychological injury. While accounting for only 7% of claims accepted
by Comcare in 2003 – 04, claims for psychological injury accounted for 27% of the total cost of workers’ compensation claims.
It is forecast that claims for psychological injury in Australian Government agencies will increase
by 38% in 2004 – 05. Each claim will cost on average $110,000. For the ACT Government the number of psychological injury claims is expected to increase by 19% and cost on average $70,000.
Our challenge is to quickly respond to the rising incidence and cost of psychological injury claims
and to work with agencies to develop and implement strategies to effectively 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 prevention of psychological injuries and early rehabilitation assistance
- the provision of information and 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.
Strategic initiatives
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 prevention and management model are that agencies
- integrate responsibility for occupational health and safety, claims 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 management allowing them to implement effective and targeted injury prevention strategies
- ensure effective return to work and case management in order to minimise the human
and financial cost of any work related injury.
Without a genuine and sustained commitment to preventing workplace injuries and managing a quick and safe return to work for injured employees, the already significant cost of workers’ compensation will continue to increase. In 2004 – 05, Comcare will continue to work in partnership with agencies
in the Commonwealth jurisdiction to ensure that there is such a commitment, that current initiatives are effective and that new and innovative solutions are identified.
Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission (the Commission)
During the year Comcare continued to provide support and high quality advice to the Commission and its new chair Mr Les Taylor. On behalf of the Commission, Comcare is seeking to improve consultation arrangements with organisations which hold self-insurance licences.
Seafarers Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Authority
Responsibility for supporting the Authority transferred to Comcare in June 2003. In addition to providing secretarial and support services, Comcare provided legal, policy and strategic advice to the Authority to assist it to perform its statutory functions.
Comcare staff
I want to sincerely thank the staff of Comcare for their efforts in 2003 – 04. Some of the work Comcare staff have to do is very challenging and requires skill, knowledge, sensitivity and persistence. Comcare staff show these capabilities in abundance.
Barry Leahy
Chief Executive Officer