Safe Work Australia has published the 2021 National Return to Work Survey Headline Measures Report, providing an overview of key return-to-work measures over the year.
In a statement, Safe Work Australia said that, in what was Australia’s only national return-to-work survey of people who received workers’ compensation for a work-related illness or injury, the data captured showed a national returned-to-work rate of 91.6 per cent and a current return-to-work rate of 81.3 per cent.
It said the ‘returned-to-work rate’ was the proportion of workers who reported they had returned to work since their work-related injury or illness, while the ‘current return-to-work rate’ was the proportion of workers who reported they had returned to work since their work-related injury or illness and were in paid employment at the time of the survey.
Chief Executive Officer of Safe Work Australia, Michelle Baxter said more than half a million Australians sustained a work-related injury or illness each year.
“The impacts on affected workers can be devastating and often reverberate more widely through families, communities and workplaces,” Ms Baxter said.
“In addition to the immediate personal toll, work-related injury and illness imposes significant costs on the Australian health system and economy through loss of productivity and income,” she said.
Ms Baxter said Safe Work Australis’s inaugural National Return-to-Work Strategy 2020-2030 was driving action to improve return-to-work outcomes for ill and injured workers.
“The Strategy aims to minimise the impact of work-related injury and illness, and enables workers to have a safe, durable and timely return to work,” she said.
A more detailed 2021 National Return-to-Work Survey Summary Report is to be published in early 2022.
The 10-page Headline Measures Report can be accessed at this PS News link.
