A new study published this week reveals how the global economy could recover billions of dollars lost each year due to workplace injuries and illness.
In Australia, over 500,000 employees suffer work-related injuries or illnesses, leading to time off work in 60% of cases. This results in about $30 billion in costs, which is equivalent to the annual output of Australia’s agricultural sector.
In Canada, the annual costs amount to CAD $29.4 billion; in the United Kingdom, it reaches GBP £18.8 billion per year, and across the European Union (EU), it totals a staggering €467 billion annually.
Recent research published in Safety Science indicates that companies that provide healthy working conditions to their employees, such as supportive relationships with supervisors, appreciation of skills and job autonomy, and reduction of work-related stress, report significantly fewer days lost per workers’ compensation claim.
A study by researchers from the University of South Australia’s Psychosocial Safety Climate Global Observatory compared working conditions in 100 Australian organizations to 12,000 injured workers’ compensation claims, uncovering the underlying causes of delays in employees returning to work after work-related injury or illness.
Organizations with a weak psychosocial safety climate (PSC) reported a 160% increase in days off due to workplace injury or illness compared to high PSC organizations (177 days vs 68 days).
Similarly, costs for injury or illness were 104% higher in very low PSC organizations compared to high PSC organizations ($67,260 vs $32,939 per employee).
“Our findings emphasize the importance of a healthy psychological climate in workplaces if companies aim to decrease work time loss and costs linked to workplace injuries and illnesses,” states UniSA ARC Laureate Fellow Professor Maureen Dollard.
The researchers eliminated individual bias by analyzing data sets at the organizational level rather than relying on surveys from injured employees regarding past work conditions.
“Besides a strong PSC, the key factors predicting a faster return to work included the job’s satisfaction and reward, supervisor support, adaptability of skills, and job autonomy,” highlighted the study.
In Australia, an estimated 563,000 individuals had work-related injuries or illnesses in 2017-18, constituting 4.2% of the workforce. 60% of these cases involved taking time off work, costing an amount equivalent to Australia’s annual agricultural output or 1.6% of the country’s GDP.
The most common occupations appearing in the claims data were nurses, police officers, and personal assistants, and most claims were related to muscle injuries.
“These results further establish the significance of ‘healthy’ workplaces,” Prof. Dollard added. “They are crucial not only for our mental well-being and to prevent worker injuries, but PSC is equally crucial post-injury or illness.”
“Developing an organization with a robust PSC will aid in reducing lost time and cutting costs through improved injury prevention and management,” she concluded.
