The following frequently asked questions relate to workers compensation insurance:
- What are my workers compensation responsibilities when employing a person with disability?
- Will employing a person with disability have an impact on my workers compensation costs?
What are my workers compensation responsibilities when employing a person with disability?
By law you must take out workers compensation insurance for your staff. Workers compensation insurance provides protection for you and your employees in the event of a workplace related injury or disease.
Accidents and injuries
If a workplace injury does occur, the law ensures that:
- the injured worker receives appropriate support and medical care
- the worker is assisted to return to safe work as soon as possible
- steps are taken to prevent the workplace injury occurring again.
Incidents must be reported to your insurer within a certain period—these differ from state to state, and you must keep records of the details of the incident.
You may be interested in the research report produced by the Australian Safety and Compensation Council which answers the questions: Are people with disability at risk at work. See our Related Links for a copy of the report.
State and territory authorities
State and territory governments are responsible for handling workers compensation. You will need to check the individual requirements and your responsibilities regarding workers compensation according to your state or territory. Links and contact details for the state and territory authorities are provided below. Please note that these links will take you to an external site in a new window.
Australian Capital Territory—WorkCover/WorkSafe ACT
New South Wales—WorkCover NSW
Northern Territory—NT WorkSafe
Queensland—WorkCover Queensland
South Australia—WorkCoverSA
Tasmania—WorkCover Tasmania
Victoria—WorkSafe Victoria
Western Australia—WorkCover WA
Will employing a person with disability have an impact on my workers compensation costs?
When calculating the level of workers compensation premiums, workers compensation insurance companies take many factors into account, but no weight is placed on whether or not an organisation has employed a person with disability. That is, the calculation of workers compensation premiums does not take into account any aspect of an employee’s life or lifestyle, other than financial loss arising from a workplace injury, or pain and suffering arising from an injury.
Occupational health and safety laws require you, the employer, to take all reasonable and practicable steps to ensure that your employees are not injured at work. If your occupational health and safety arrangements take into account all aspects of your workforce, then the level of risk of injury should be the same for all employees, and all injured employees would receive equitable benefits.
Calculating premium rates
When calculating workers compensation premiums consideration is given to:
- ensuring there is appropriate funding to meet the cost of claims
- providing incentives for safe workplaces
- making sure premiums are affordable and stable
- having systems that are administratively simple.
Premium rates are typically calculated on the total wages bill of an employer. The premium rate will depend on your organisation’s:
- size (that is, the number of employees)
- industry type (is it a high risk industry)
- individual claims experience and history, which is usually considered for a three to five year period
- financial position
- position in the insurance market cycle.
The status of individual employees is not taken into account in these calculations.
Cost of workers compensation
The cost of workers compensation to you will depend on the likelihood of work related injury and includes:
- medical and income payments
- rehabilitation expenses
- pain and suffering
- administrative costs.
Therefore, unless a person with disability has a disproportionate effect on these costs when they are injured at work, it will not affect your workers compensation premiums.
References
Australian Safety and Compensation Council 2007, Are People with Disability at Risk at Work? A Review of the Evidence, Australian Safety and Compensation Council, Canberra.
Graffam, J, Shinkfield, A, Smith, K, and Polzin, U 2002, ‘Employer benefits and costs of employing a person with a disability’, Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, vol. 17, pp. 251-263.