New research published this week shows how the global economy could recover the billions of dollars lost each year to workplace injuries and illnesses.
In Australia, more than half a million employees suffer work-related injuries and illnesses, with 60% of cases requiring time off work. This equates to approximately $30 billion, equivalent to the annual production of Australia’s agricultural sector.
In Canada, the annual cost is the same (CAD 29.4 billion), in the UK it is £18.8 billion per year, and across the European Union it is a staggering €467 billion per year.
New research published Safety Science Companies that offer healthy working conditions to their employees — such as supportive relationships with managers, recognition of skills and job autonomy, and minimal work stress — have been found to experience far fewer lost days per workers’ compensation claim.
Researchers from the Global Observatory of Psychosocial Safety Climate at the University of South Australia compared working conditions in 100 Australian organisations with 12,000 injured workers’ compensation claims to identify the underlying causes of delays in returning to work after workplace-related injury or illness.
Organizations with poor psychosocial safety climates (PSC) report 160% more days lost due to workplace injuries and illnesses (177 days vs. 68 days) compared to organizations with high PSC.
Similarly, organizations with very low PSC have 104% higher injury and illness costs ($67,260 vs. $32,939 per employee) compared to organizations with high PSC.
Our findings indicate that a healthy psychological environment in the workplace is essential if companies want to reduce costs associated with lost work time and workplace injuries and illnesses.”
Professor Maureen Dollard, UniSA ARC Award-winning Fellow
The researchers avoided personal bias by correlating the data set at the organizational level rather than surveying injured employees about their past working conditions.
“Besides a strong PSC, the most important predictors of faster return to work include job satisfaction and reward, manager support, transferability of skills, and the degree of autonomy in the role.”
In Australia, an estimated 563,000 people, or 4.2% of the workforce, suffered a work-related injury or illness in 2017 to 2018. 60% of cases resulted in time away from work, costing Australia the equivalent of its annual agricultural production, or 1.6% of the country’s GDP.
The occupations most frequently represented in the claims data included nurses, police officers and personal assistants. The majority of claims were for muscle-related injuries.
“These findings provide further evidence that ‘healthy’ workplaces are important,” Professor Dollard said. “Not only are they important for our mental health and preventing worker injury, but PSC is just as important following injury or illness.”
“Building an organization with a strong PSC reduces lost time, improves injury prevention and management, and reduces costs.”
sauce:
University of South Australia
Journal References:
Dollard, M.F. other. (2024).PSC as an organization-level determinant of worktime loss and expenditures associated with workplace injuries and illnesses. Safety Science. doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2024.106602.