Staff at the Australian National University will have their workers' compensation claims assessed in-house from July next year, after the university's lengthy push for self-insurance was approved last week.
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An email sent to staff late last week confirmed the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission, which oversees Comcare, had approved the university's self-insurance application, almost two years after ANU first applied.
While an ANU spokesman said self-insurance would let the ANU invest funds otherwise spent on Comcare premiums into improving work health and safety, some staff remain concerned it could mean less external oversight of future claims lodged.
For the past four years, the university has paid out about $1 million in compensation claims, with 34 claims in 2014 costing a total of $1.132 million, 22 in 2015 costing $1.025 million, and 17 claims costing $965,000 in 2016.
That compared with $536,000 in total claims in 2008, rising most years to $895,000 in 2012 before rising above $1 million the following year.
Despite the overall upward trend in total claim payments, in recent years the numbers of active compensation claims have fallen, down from 148 in 2015-16 to 75 last fiscal year and only three "lost time injuries" so far this year.
It comes at the same ANU and other federal agencies have faced rising Comcare premiums, at ANU reaching $11 million in 2014, up from just $4 million three years' earlier, as the public service's compensation scheme has looked to turn around its financial position.
An ANU spokesman would not comment on how much the university's premiums had been in the past three financial years.
But he did cite Comcare figures showing the university's claims incidence rate had fallen from 10.5 per 1000 employees to 4.5 from 2013-14 to 2015-16.
"While our goal remains zero lost time injuries, the improvement in our safety performance has been significant," he said.
He said the university had applied for the self-insurance licence to improve employee health and safety, and it would mean the university could manage claims as well as take on liability for them.
"Instead of paying an annual premium or fee to Comcare, the University would pay for the costs of claims as they occur over the course of the year," he said.
"The licence will also give ANU the capacity to improve the efficiency and the effectiveness of the claims approval process, which will allow injured employees to proceed promptly with their rehabilitation and injury management plans."
The change will mean any new compensation claims by ANU employees filed from July 1 next year will be handled by two claims managers from Comcare that will be "physically located within the work environment group at ANU under a contract with Comcare".
