AUS - Study: The Economic Benefits of Reducing Workplace Injuries

Original article published by NSCA Foundation

Australia’s economy would reportedly be $28.6 billion larger each year and 185,000 additional full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs would be created in the absence of work-related injuries and illnesses, according to new research published by Safe Work Australia. The research, carried out by Deloitte Access Economics, explored the cost of work-related injury and illness in Australia and estimated how much value could be created within the Australian economy by removing work-related injury and illness. The research used an innovative modelling approach and showed that workers across all occupations and skill levels would also benefit from a wage rise of 1.3% on average each year, in the absence of work-related injuries and illnesses.

Safe Work Australia Branch Manager (Evidence, Communication and Strategic Policy) Meredith Bryant said the findings illustrate the economic and productivity benefits of investing in work health and safety for the wider community. “Creating workplaces that are safe and free of injury and illness provides broad economic benefits for all Australians, including more jobs and better pay,” Bryant said.

Bryant said that the report provides an important evidence base for policymakers and economists to better understand why work health and safety is so important, embedding a shift from ‘how’ to do safety to ‘why’ we do safety. “The report gives Safe Work Australia and others involved in work health and safety a different lens through which to examine and quantify the impacts of work-related injury and illness. We will use the findings to drive progress in work health and safety thinking and emphasise the need to devote attention and resources to harm prevention,” Bryant said.

According to the report, there were 6.9 million work-related injuries and illnesses in Australia between 2008–2018, costing $37.6 billion in health system costs and causing a 2.2 million FTE productivity loss. The research, which utilises computable general equilibrium (CGE) modelling, is reportedly the first of its kind to adopt the World Health Organisation’s guidelines to identifying the economic consequences of disease and injury. “We know that the devastating effects of injury and illness at work go beyond the effect on the individual, their workplace, occupation, industry or jurisdiction in which they occur. Our communities and the Australian economy more broadly feel the impacts of these injuries and illnesses including through costs associated with loss of productivity, reduced work participation and increased health care,” Bryant said.

The report has been published on Safe Work Australia’s website during National Safe Work Month, which focuses on creating safe and healthy work for all.

‍