Any business that is able to reduce its workplace injuries is to be commended for its efforts. However Australia Post has implemented a program known as the Injury Management (Early Intervention) policy that sweeps workplace injuries under the carpet and worse forces injured workers back to the workplace before they are fit for work.

A number of Australia Post workers have confirmed the extraordinary measures used by Australia Post to prevent workers’ compensation claims and lost time injuries from being recorded, such as being directed to attend an FND even though the treating doctor has prescribed rest at home, FNDs overriding medical certificates and return to work programs of treating doctors, supervisors contacting FNDs and treating doctors to pressure the doctors to return an injured employee back to work prematurely.

Answers to Senate Estimates questions below reveal significantly there were 13,535 incident reports submitted nationally in 2006/2007 and 2,898 new workers’ compensation claims but this resulted in just 463 lost time injuries!

Topic: Injured Workers
Senator Lundy asked:

1.   Please specify the number of incident reports (known as P 400s) submitted by employees in 2006 / 2007 by State and for the whole of Australia.

2.       Please specify the number of new and active compensation claims made by Australia Post employees in 2006 / 2007 by State and for the whole of Australia.

3.       Please specify the number of Lost Time Injuries in Australia Post in 2006 / 2007 by State and for the whole of Australia.  

Answer:

1. The number of incident reports submitted in 2006/2007 was as follows:

State	Incident Reports
New South Wales	4,692
Victoria/Tasmania	3,935
Queensland	2,556
Western Australia	1,221
South Australia/Northern Territory	1,131
TOTAL	13,535

2. The number of new and active compensation claims in 2006/2007 was as follows:

State	New Claims	Active Claims (at end of 06/07)
New South Wales	1,032	444
Victoria/Tasmania	1,056	420
Queensland	396	107
Western Australia	178	151
South Australia/Northern Territory	236	144
TOTAL*	2,898	1,266

[* 2,489 claims were settled in the period, of which 409 remained open and are included in the total active claims figure.] 

3. The number of Lost Time Injuries in 2006/2007 was as follows:

State	Lost Time Injuries
New South Wales	158
Victoria/Tasmania	103
Queensland	94
Western Australia	49
South Australia/Northern Territory	59
TOTAL	463