Articles tagged under ‘Policy & Legislation’

Articles 1 - 38 of 38

• Collaboration to prevent and manage mental injury claims — a roundup from the 3rd It Pays to Care symposium

  Sharon Stratford reports from the third It Pays to Care symposium

  ---

• Upping the ante — what the new model code of practice expects of employers

  What exactly does Safe Work Australia’s new model code of practice, Managing psychosocial hazards at work expect of employers?

  ---

• From duty to action — how to comply with the law to ensure psychosocial safety

  Managing psychosocial hazards in the workplace is an important responsibility for employers, particularly human resources managers. What laws apply? And what things should employers consider?

  ---

• Return to work is everybody’s business — how everyone can be part of the solution

  Catherine Day, Director of Employer Supervision and Return to Work at SIRA, outlines SIRA's work to improve declining RTW rates in NSW

  ---

• Webinar recording — It pays to care: from policy to practice

  Dr Mary Wyatt introduces the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine's recently-launched policy on work injury scheme design and explores some practical approaches to improve how our schemes operate.

  ---

• RTW: from policy to practice. An imperative for change and call to action

  An important policy paper — It pays to care — calls for a conversation about, and action on, how we can work together to improve health and recovery outcomes and reduce the barriers to care for people with work injuries.

  ---

• Case study: Regulator-led case management success

  Evidence from a US jurisdiction shows that top-down reforms can improve RTW outcomes, improving outcomes while reducing costs.

  ---

• Workers' compensation needs better healthcare - Part 2

  Positive change may be inspired by centers of excellence and everyday positivity emulated by treating practitioners.

  ---

• Workers’ compensation needs better health care – Part I

  Dr Wyatt explains how problems with agency, explanation deficits, delays and disputes, over-medicalisation and failure to deal with distress and whole, complex people (rather than just their medical problems) derail health outcomes in workers' comp.

  ---

• Ombudsman calls for overhaul of “immoral and unethical” Victorian practices

  New report concludes: “Nothing short of wholesale changes to the system will address the issues identified by both the 2016 investigation and the current one.” Does it go far enough?

  ---

• A new, national approach to RTW

  Safe Work Australia's National Return to Work Strategy shows promise. Will they deliver on the implementation?

  ---

• 3 x 3 for mental health

  Nine priorities for Australian businesses seeking to prevent harm, promote the positive, and manage mental illness at work

  ---

• Consider the alternative: Part 2 - Dispute resolution systems

  Dispute Resolution system expert Nerida Wallace explains the important characteristics of a workers' compensation dispute resolution system

  ---

• Garnering consensus on the importance of work to health

  Occupational Physicians have brought together a broad group to join forces on changing beliefs and attitudes to being in work

  ---

• Australian Consensus Statement on the Health Benefits of Work

  Occupational Physicians garner stakeholder support to influence policy initiatives and stakeholder management of work and health

  ---

• Backing away from compensation

  A prominent South Australian back surgeon has called for workers' comp for back pain to be scrapped. Why not fix treatment?

  ---

• Price for patients of no-cost compensation

  Should workers' comp recipients share treatment costs with their employers?

  ---

• Moving backwards on backs

  The messages of a $6 million public health campaign about back pain are being lost thanks to good intentions and a lack of consistency.

  ---

• A challenge to policy makers

  How much do we know about how different workers' comp systems influence health outcomes? And what could we do with this information?

  ---

• Preventing further harm to the harmed

  Etymology - the archaeology of words - sometimes uncovers a contemporary resonance in ancient digs.

  ---

• Judging the judges

  SuperDoc reminisces about his time in the Courts and asks whether judges see the broader consequences of their decisions.

  ---

• Harmonisation housekeeping

  Our advice for legislators? Don't rearrange the lounge suite while there is mildew growing up the walls.

  ---

• System satisfaction?

  Satisfaction with the claims process affects the long term financial, social and health outcomes of compensation recipients. How do we increase it?

  ---

• Court between a rock and a hard place

  Some regard the courts as a necessary evil in injury compensation; but how can they be used to foster good?

  ---

• Durable RTW - was life meant to be this hard?

  Why are the numbers of people making return to work more difficult increasing?

  ---

• Compensation or Rehabilitation? What impact does a word have?

  There was a Door to which I found no Key: There was a Veil through which I could not see: Some little Talk awhile of Me and Thee There seemed and then no more of Thee and Me. - Omar Khayyam

  ---

• Grrrrrrrr

  Who suffers when people dud the system?

  ---

• An open letter to the Heads of Australian Workers' Compensation Authorities.

  How one woman changed Australian culture and why RTW can profit from her example.

  ---

• Can Australia afford to lose $57.5 billion a year through work-related illness and injury?

  What role do compensation authorities play in helping people back to work?

  ---

• Superdoc (10) - Rehabilitate or terminate - who cares?

  Financial rewards and KPIs as perverse incentives.

  ---

• Discrimination, harassment and RTW

  How can employers avoid real (or perceived) discrimination and harassment during the RTW process?

  ---

• What's more painful than chronic pain? Chronic pain in 'The System'

  Workers' comp and RTW systems can exacerbate chronic pain, but as Coralie Wales from Chronic Pain Australia explains, that's not the end of the story...

  ---

• The Return to Work Coordinators' Code of Ethics

  After return to work coordinators expressed to us a lack of formal guidance in their role as coordinators, and - more specifically - the lack of a Code of Ethics - we set about developing one.

  ---

• Is work good for you? Professor Kim Burton explains the UK's changing answer

  In this interview with UK expert we learn that modern vocational rehabilitation is not about delivering an expensive service.

  ---

• Promoting active workplaces for better work health

  For employers looking to increase productivity and reduce sick days, a workplace wellness program could be the answer.

  ---

• Rehabilitation of cancer patients - addressing a lack

  Why is it then that cancer survivors have less access to help with rehabilitation post-treatment?

  ---

• Positive (pirate) working culture

  Workers' compensation and return to work plans have a longer history than you might think.

  ---

• A system that works

  Denmark has in place a social system that keeps unemployment low, wages high, and job prospects flexible and secure.

Archived Articles 1 - 57 of 57

• RTW Rates in Australia and New Zealand, trends without benefits.

  Static or declining return to work seen in most Australian jurisdictions, with improving return to work results in New Zealand.

  ---

• Consider the alternative: Part 8 - Northern Territory

  In our ongoing series on the use of dispute resolution processes in the context of workers' compensation disputes, we hear from NT WorkSafe about how things are handled in the top end.

  ---

• The trouble with making it harder - Evidence from the 2011 RTW Monitor

  The 2010-11 Return to Work Monitor shows a drop in return to work in previously high performing jurisdictions. And Key Information For Employers.

  ---

• Singing from the same songsheet on workers' comp

  The release of Safe Work Australia's Workers' Compensation Action Plan foresees greater moves towards national harmonisation over the coming years.

  ---

• Welfare reform and Gillard's workplace vision

  The Federal Government's plans to tighten access to the disability support pension gives an insight into Government's focus on increasing workforce participation.

  ---

• Big trouble in little Adelaide

  A decision by the Supreme Court has thrown the South Australia's workers' compensation regime into disarray once again, and could pave the way for interstate legal challenges to the powers of Medical Panels.

  ---

• The Walsh Review and the future of WorkCoverSA

  A review commissioned by the WorkCoverSA last year outlines radical changes aimed at reforming underperforming vocational rehabilitation sector and improving return to work rates in the Festival State.

  ---

• Review calls for WorkCoverSA overhaul

  A new review commissioned by WorkCoverSA shows that more changes are needed to bring the state's return to work outcomes to a national standard.

  ---

• Cutting off a nose or two won't stop the smell

  How to reduce the national pension bill while improving life for people subject to cuts

  ---

• Discord grows in the UK over work capacity assessments

  World endeavours in disability management - Challenges for the UK with mass assessments of work ability.

  ---

• Compensating 9/11 first responders

  Is compensation for 9/11 first responders a black and white moral issue, or is the situation more complex?

  ---

• Brand WorkSafe

  WorkSafe Victoria aspires to be a centre of excellence for RTW. But with long term RTW rates now below 2006-07 levels, is rhetoric outstripping performance in the smallest mainland state?

  ---

• RTW trends: NSW, 2005-06 to 2009-10

  Our review of NSW return to work results, using the national Return to Work Monitor

  ---

• Which way to workplace health?

  Across Australia, government has allocated funding for the Healthy Worker Initiative, which has a focus on preventative health. Is this a step in the right direction?

  ---

• RTW helps and hindrances

  Employers, insurers, doctors, plans, participation. According to the RTW Monitor, all can help--or hinder--RTW. What makes the difference?

  ---

• RTW Trends in South Australia 2005-06 to 2009-10

  Our review of South Australian return to work results, using the National Return to Work Monitor

  ---

• What is it about the Apple Isle that has the best RTW outcomes across the land?

  Not hindering but helping, could it be that simple?

  ---

• RTW Monitor 09/10: A change in direction?

  It's that time of year again...RTW Monitor time! First up, an overview of trends within Australia / NZ. Are we still in decline?

  ---

• Is compensation a social determinant of health?

  Socio-economic status, and the ways in which we live and work, all influence health. What about compensation?

  ---

• The age debate

  Abbott and Gillard are right: population size does matter. But are they forgetting about the challenges to participation and productivity posed by Australia's ageing workforce?

  ---

• Rehab harmony

  On July 1 2010, a national approval framework for workplace rehabilitation providers rolled out across Australia. We talk to ARPA to find out if the choir is happy with the score...

  ---

• Occ Physicians launch health, work policy

  Will the Australian government join business, unions and treaters in realising the health benefits of work?

  ---

• The Black report transforms health, work in UK

  The implementation of "Working for a healthier tomorrow" is revolutionising health and work in the UK. What are the key initiatives?

  ---

• Queensland reform package has sting in tail

  Hot on the heels of the scarlet letter, institutional and working arrangements are up for review at WorkCover QLD.

  ---

• The Scarlet Letter

  An anonymous tip-off alleging Machiavellian plotting has unions and industry whispering about dirty deeds done anything but dirt cheap at WorkCover Queensland.

  ---

• Fog of secrecy or blowing off steam?

  Unions call the first workers' compensation harmonisation conference a secretive "sham". Is it justified?

  ---

• The jurisdictions that win or lose in return to work

  An all in comparison finds return to work performance in decline.

  ---

• Changing the law

  A revamp of workers' comp and RTW will see Victoria going where no Australian jurisdiction has yet been. Michael Simpson of OccCorp talks us through the proposed reforms.

  ---

• Money, morals and the NZ RTW Monitor

  Supporters say NZ's workers' comp system promotes social justice. Detractors say it is financially unviable. What do the stats suggest?

  ---

• Reconsidering harmonisation

  Examining the pros and cons of workers' comp harmonisation causes us to re-think our support for the process.

  ---

• Hand and glove?

  Leadership change in two Australian jurisdictions gets us pondering the relationship between government and WorkCover bureaucracy...

  ---

• Divided data does not conquer in NSW

  The lack of a centralised RTW data source is disabling RTW in NSW

  ---

• Update: WorkSafe Vic

  Hold onto your hats! We've learnt that WorkSafe Vic plans to stick with the RTW Monitor Survey.

  ---

• Trust and WorkSafe

  Reaction to return to work approaches in Victoria

  ---

• Victoria not victorious in RTW

  RTWMatters looks at the declining Victorian results in the RTW Monitor and finds the principles of RTW missing.

  ---

• South Australia heads north

  The positive spikes in SA's once below-par workers' comp and RTW rates is cause for celebration - and observation. Let's learn from their turnaround.

  ---

• Our take on the RTW performance of Comcare

  With Australia's safest workplaces, is it good management or good luck that puts them ahead?

  ---

• A taste of what's to come...

  Get warmed up for the workers' comp debate with the ACTU's take on OHS harmonisation.

  ---

• RTW Monitor Summary - Part One

  The annual RTW Monitor is out - RTW Matters summarises it's findings.

  ---

• A fraudulent slip?

  A Vic Ombudsman's report into "dodgy" doctors exploiting WorkSafe loopholes has saved employers $$. Has it also jeopardised RTW relationships?

  ---

• Debriefing after Safe Work Australia's first meeting

  A slow beginning or hitting the ground running? Read this and make up your own mind.

  ---

• Safe Work Australia gets a Chair but it's no time for sitting around

  Is Tom Phillips the man to lead harmonisation in Australia?

  ---

• Harmonisation perspectives: ACCI and the ACTU

  Are employer and worker organisations singing the same song?

  ---

• Harmonised workers' comp: a SWAB or a solution?

  Safe Work Australia is up and running but the Safe Work Australia Bill is back in Parliament. What's going on?

  ---

• It's about people.

  What is the real impact of return to work programmes in Australia?

  ---

• Caught in the spotlight: Pacific Film and Television Corporation, stress claims and "reasonable management action"

  What happens when WorkCover decides that workplace bullying - which your doctor tells you is responsible for your skyrocketing blood pressure and increasing reactive arthritis flare-ups - is actually "reasonable management action"?

  ---

• WorkCover SA: can it be fixed?

  Only time will tell whether the Rann government's WorkCover reforms are on the money or off the rails.

  ---

• Going back to your own workplace is going down, down, down

  Over the last 11 years, the rate of return to the pre-injury employer has been in decline. Last year, the rate of return to same duties also hit a new low. What's going on?

  ---

• What's the point of national workers comp harmony if you can't harmonise with your employee?

  ACTU's national workers' compensation officer Jarrod Moran spoke at February's National Workers' Compensation Summit on 'Unions, workers' compensation and the way forward'.

  ---

• RTW performance VS funding performance

  Do scheme funding improvements necessarily lead to improvements in RTW rates and duration?

  ---

• Opening the door to productive workers: Government policy, RTW and mental illness

  Simon Tatz, from the Mental Health Council of Australia, lays down the law about mental illness and inclusive RTW

  ---

• Help create a Code of Ethics for Return to Work Co-ordinators

  As we begin drafting a Code of Ethics to help return to work coordinators do their job, we invite you to get involved!

  ---

• Workers rally to fight WorkCover changes.

  A newly established Adelaide group offers to provide support, counselling, guidance and a united voice, as well as lobbying against recent WorkCover reforms.

  ---

• A wish-list for Australia's occupational rehabilitation system

  An interview with the Australian Rehabilitation Providers Association's Jane Monk.

  ---

• LaTrobe University's Greg Murphy talks to RTW Matters

  Associate Professor Greg Murphy on rehab policy, RTW after spinal injury and rehab in rural communities.

  ---

• Towards a better WorkCover scheme in Victoria

  WorkCover improvements would benefit patients, practitioners, employers and the community.

  ---

• The disability support pension process: unnecessarily stressful?

  Qualified assessors the key to determining disability pension eligibility.

Research 1 - 4 of 4

• Back pain World Cup

  How do different country's disability benefits and policies for occupational low back pain affect return to work rates?

  ---

• The history of compensation in Australia

  With harmonisation hopefully imminent, it's a good time to look at and learn from Australia's history of workers' comp.

  ---

• Welfare-to-work programs

  Are they good policy? Do they work? How can they be improved?

  ---

• Compensating for legislation

  Case Study NSW: How do changes to a compensation system effect whiplash recovery outcomes?