A study conducted by Monash University will partner with people who have lived experience of a workers compensation claim to design better systems. The study, led by Professor Alex Collie from Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, will engage workers with physical and psychological injury and illness, and their support networks.

Each year, more than half a million Australians are injured or become ill at work; 31% of them make a workers compensation claim, resulting in at least 1.9 million weeks of lost work costing the economy $28.6 billion each year. Each state and territory in Australia has a workers compensation scheme. There are also three national schemes for Commonwealth government workers, Defence Force personnel and maritime workers.

Collie said there is evidence that Australia’s workers compensation systems are structured and operated in a way that could cause problems for injured workers, with many studies in Australia and internationally indicating that people find workers compensation stressful and complex — for some people, this can contribute to slower recovery and distress. “These studies suggest that it is the way workers compensation schemes operate that can lead to problems. The sector has a history of treating injured workers as claims to be managed, rather than as vulnerable people in need of support,” Collie said.

Workers’ Voice: Harnessing lived experience to redesign Australia’s workers’ compensation systems, will work with workers and their supporters to design a workers compensation system that reflects their experiences, views and preferences. “We think that workers with an injury or illness, their family and friends have a unique and very valuable experience of workers compensation. This experience should be heard and have greater weight in the way systems are designed and the way they operate,” Collie said.

Using a technique called participatory system modelling, the researchers will develop and test new design and delivery approaches, with the results used to provide a vision for a new approach to workers compensation that supports the recovery and return to work of Australians with work-related injury or illness. Collie said that most of Australia’s workers compensation schemes were designed in the 1980s, but the world of work and the types of injury and illness seen at work have changed fundamentally. “Because workers haven’t been involved in designing compensation schemes before, we don’t really know what solutions will be developed. That is a really exciting part of this project,” Collie said.

The study involves the Australian Centre for Justice Innovation, the University of Melbourne and the University of Waterloo, as well as injured worker support groups and networks around Australia. Collie believes that governments will listen to the study findings.

“Some of our largest workers compensation schemes have been under enormous financial pressure, and are struggling to get people back to work. To manage their budgets, governments have been cutting benefits and restricting access to these schemes. This short-term, knee-jerk reaction to financial pressure creates as many problems as it solves. A better way to improve a system and make it sustainable is to listen carefully to people with direct experience of that system. The Workers’ Voice Project provides an opportunity to do just that,” Collie said.

The Workers’ Voice Project will run until 2026, with major findings released periodically from 2024.

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