New independent research commissioned by the Recruitment and Consulting Services Association (RCSA) has revealed that the safety performance of the on-hire industry is not - as is often claimed - worse than direct employment, but it is in fact better.
The research undertaken by the Values Bank Research Centre from publicly available data refutes the claim made in the 2002 Underhill Report, that on-hire workers (also known as labour hire or temp workers) ìare more likely to be injured than direct employees and their injuries appear to be more severeî.
ìSince its publication, the Underhill report has been widely quoted as the key source of information on the on-hire industryís safety record. But a review of the data shows its claims simply donít stack up.
ìThe key measure for safety performance is the incident rate: it is an actuarial formula the used by the insurance industry and WorkCover. Surprisingly though, the Underhill report did not use this, and without it, the claims made by the report are little more than anecdotal,î Brent Taylor, Principal of the Values Bank said.
One of the reasons for this shortcoming may have been a lack of necessary data when the report was written in 2001-2002.
ìThe Underhill report is outdated because crucial information wasnít available at the time. Not long after its publication, however, new data was made available through HILDA, a national study of the workforce carried out by the University of Melbourne. Using this, the Values Bank has been able to calculate an incidence figure for the on-hire industry and it found a 27 per cent lower rate of claimsî, Mr Taylor said.
The research notes, however, that claims are not injuries.
ìThere are reasons to believe that people in the on hired industry may underclaim and that people in direct employment may overclaim; somewhere in between is probably the true incidence. The fact remains however, that for all the figures we can find, the incidence of claims for On Hired industry is lower than the rest of the workforce,í Mr Taylor said.
According to Julie Mills, CEO of the RCSA, the research sends a strong signal to critics of the on-hire industry, especially those who would seek to set its workers compensation premiums at a higher level.
ìBusinesses have embraced the flexibility and efficiency that on-hire workers provide, and workers themselves benefit not only from competitive rates of pay, but the doubling up of workplace safety reviews, as the responsibility falls to both on-hire employers and their clients.
ìOn-hire work has grown rapidly in recent years, and will continue to do so. It is now time for critics of the industry to change with the times and recognise the benefits it brings to Australian employers and workers, including enhanced safety performance,î Ms Mills said.
Safety claims against on-hire industry donít stack up, research shows
RCSA has revealed that the safety performance of the on-hire industry is not - as is often claimed - worse than direct employment, but it is in fact better
