National Workers' Compensation and Occupational Health and Safety Frameworks

Preliminaries
Cover, Copyright, Terms of reference, Contents, Abbreviations and explanations

Overview
Background
Occupational health and safety
Workers' compensation
Recommendations

1 About the inquiry
1.1 Background to inquiry
1.2 Current arrangements
1.3 Terms of reference
1.4 The Commission's approach
1.5 Report structure

2 National frameworks
2.1 Previous reviews
2.2 The case for national frameworks
2.3 Criteria for model selection
2.4 Formulation of the models

3 Current occupational health and safety regimes
3.1 The incidence of injury and illness
3.2 Current OHS arrangements
3.3 National coordination
3.4 Some definitional issues

4 National occupational health and safety frameworks
4.1 Issues for developing a national framework
4.2 National framework models
4.3 The Commission's proposals for a national OHS framework

5 National frameworks for workers' compensation
5.1 Issues for developing a national framework
5.2 National framework models
5.3 The Commission's proposals for a national workers' compensation framework

6 Defining access and coverage
6.1 Employer and employee
6.2 Workplace and work-related fatality, injury and illness

7 Injury management
7.1 Why injury management is important
7.2 Factors which facilitate recovery
7.3 Scheme approaches to injury management
7.4 Outcomes of injury management
7.5 National framework issues

8 Common law access
8.1 Common law in workers' compensation
8.2 Common law access in Australian jurisdictions
8.3 Evaluating common law in workers' compensation
8.4 National framework issues

9 Statutory benefits structures
9.1 Features of statutory benefits structures
9.2 Evaluating statutory benefits
9.3 National framework issues

10 Premium setting
10.1 Premium setting objectives
10.2 Elements of premium setting
10.3 Premium controls
10.4 Premium monitoring
10.5 National framework issues

11 The role of private insurers
11.1 Public monopoly versus competitive private provision
11.2 Private insurers as agents
11.3 Industry-specific schemes
11.4 Regulation of private insurers
11.5 National framework issues

12 Self-insurance
12.1 Prudential requirements
12.2 Claims management requirements
12.3 OHS requirements
12.4 The minimum employee requirement
12.5 Other requirements
12.6 National framework issues

13 Dispute resolution in workers' compensation
13.1 Causes of disputs
13.2 Resolution of disputes
13.3 Directions of reform
13.4 National framework issues

Appendices

A Conduct of the inquiry
A.1 Introduction
A.2 List of submissions
A.3 Visits
A.4 Public hearings

B Australian Government Actuary
B.1 Introduction
B.2 Background
B.3 The nature of financial risk to the Commonwealth
B.4 Existing prudential arrangements
B.5 Possible changes to the prudential framework

C Australian Government Solicitor
Productivity Commission inquiry into national workers' compensation and occupational health and safety frameworks
Background
Short advice

D Consultant actuaries' reports of impacts on State and Territory schemes
D.1 Taylor Fry advice
D.2 am actuaries' report on the impact on scheme average premium rates from large employers exiting
D.3 am actuaries' response to the comment of Bateup Actuarial + Consulting Services
D.4 Analysis of Victorian WorkCover Authority data

E Institutional arrangements for national workers' compensation frameworks
E.1 Current arrangements
E.2 Institutional arrangements for step 1
E.3 Institutional arrangements for step 2
E.4 Institutional arrangements for step 3

F Administrative Appeals Tribunal

References