A new study published this week shows how the global economy could claw back billions of dollars lost each year due to workplace injuries and illness. In Australia, more than 500,000 employees sustain injuries or illnesses relating to work and in 60% of cases, this requires time off work. That equates to around $30 billion, equivalent to the annual output of Australia's agricultural sector.
In Canada, their annual costs are equivalent (CAD $29.4 billion); the United Kingdom comes in at GBP £18.8 billion each year and across the European Union (EU), a staggering €467 billion a year.
New research published in Safety Science reveals that companies that offer healthy working conditions to employees, including supportive relationships with supervisors, valuing skills and job autonomy, and minimizing work stress, report far fewer days lost per workers' compensation claim. 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, identifying the root cause of delays in people returning to work after workplace-related injury or illness. Organisations with a poor psychosocial safety climate (PSC) reported 160% more days off due to workplace injury or illness, compared to high PSC organizations (177 days vs 68 days).
Likewise, costs for the injury or illness were 104% greater in very low PSC organizations versus high PSC organizations .
