by ABILITY GROUP | Apr 19, 2016 | Claim costs, Claim management, Injured Worker, Injury Prevention, Manual Handling, Mental Health, Work Health & Safety, Work Health Program, Workers Compensation, Workplace safety
Every business can take some simple steps to minimise risk of injury and improve workplace safety. Although office environments can seem less vulnerable to serious injury when compared to industries such as construction, manufacturing, aged care, etc., risks exist across all industries.
Irrespective of the workplace environment steps can be taken to minimise workplace risk. Injuries and claims commonly result from workers tripping, slipping or falling. Poor manual handling activity, incorrect workstation set-up, lack of rest and exercise breaks or strains and other injuries related to posture or repetitive movement are frequent causes of workplace injury. If not addressed, these problems can affect employee productivity, morale and absenteeism rates. Employers can take 8 simple steps to help minimise workplace risks and therefore create safer workplaces for their workers.
Want some simple steps for a safer workplace?
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by Marc Ring | Feb 15, 2016 | Claim costs, Claim management, Injured Worker, Premium, Workers Compensation
A decision made by Workers Compensation Commission Deputy President O’Grady in Sabanayagam v St George Bank Ltd [2016] on 21 January 2016 has resulted in important changes for NSW businesses. Effective immediately, any decision to cease a workers’ weekly payments of compensation need to be communicated via a Work Capacity Decision (WCD).
This decision is important as it effectively means a legislated 3 month period is required for the WCD to be completed. In context of the 30 June 2015 changes and therefore under the new NSW workers compensation premium formula, it means the additional wage costs will impact a business’ workers compensation premium for the following 3 premium renewals. As a result it is will be increasingly important to ensure all claims are managed in a timely and effective manner. Use of specialists to expedite outcomes will assist businesses in minimising the people, business and financial costs.
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by Marc Ring | Feb 10, 2016 | Claim costs, Claim management, Injured Worker, Rehabilitation, Workers Compensation
8+ million Australians go to work each day with many in manual or sedentary workplaces. Mounting evidence supports onsite physio as a strategy to minimise workplace injuries. With an average of 1/3 of an individual’s life spent at work, it is becoming vital for businesses to adopt measures to prevent, manage and educate employees regarding their health. Using a physio in the workplace is a preventative strategy for businesses wanting to minimise costs, reduce workers compensation claims and more.
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by Marc Ring | Jan 18, 2016 | Claim costs, Claim management, Injured Worker, Premium, Reforms, Rehabilitation, Workers Compensation
The main focus of the workers compensation is to enable injured workers to stay at work or return to work following a work related injury. Workplace rehabilitation plays an important role by involving timely intervention with appropriate and adequate service based needs to assist injured workers back into the workplace. We are pleased to say our specialist rehab business HEALTH ABILITY has a 100% return to work rate and can support businesses.
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by Marc Ring | Jan 8, 2016 | Claim costs, Claim management, Injured Worker, Premium, Reforms, Workers Compensation
On the 4th of December 2015, icare (previously known as WorkCover NSW) announced further changes as a component of the NSW government ongoing NSW workers compensation reforms.
The latest reforms include benefit changes to injured employees in need of the highest benefits being those with a Whole Person Impairment (WPI) of >30%. In addition to this there were several other as well as additional changes.
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by Marc Ring | Oct 21, 2015 | Injured Worker, Workers Compensation
Described as landmark changes for injured workers, several reforms commenced on the 16 October 2015. These reforms are to benefit injured workers with the highest needs, those with injuries in returning to work and most importantly apply these benefits equitably for all injured workers. Changes are also being made to weekly benefits, Independent Medical Examinations (IME’s) and retiring age. We explain these changes in more below. (more…)
