Injury impact: the proof is in productivity

In 2023, businesses in New Zealand had more than 18.5 million days of disruption from workdays lost due to injury. That is a huge number, and one that ACC knows hits home. Injuries can have a big impact on the individual, their whānau and friends, their community, and their workplace and team. 
 
People are vital to the success of your business. Having people off work pushes out timelines and efficiencies as work is moved around to cater for the capacity lost. Reductions in productivity may also impact on worker morale and customer service, as well as your bottom line. 
 
ACC has one of the best injury databases in the world, and we want to share our insights to enable better evidence-based decision-making and bring to life the scale of the impact of injuries for your workforce. 
 
Most ACC claims that result in people taking time off work are caused by injuries that happen outside of work, such as spraining an ankle playing sport or slipping on a mossy path doing jobs around the house. About two-thirds of weekly compensation days paid by ACC are for injuries outside of the workplace. 
 
These injuries also have longer recovery times than injuries that happen at work. People spend an average of 90 days on weekly compensation for injuries that happen outside of work, compared to 60 days if the injury happened at work. 
 
No matter where the injury happens, the impact on your business in lost productivity is the same. The more times an injured person is away from work, the less likely it is they will return to their job. According to research, after 20 days off their likelihood of returning is 70 per cent. At 45 days it is 50 per cent, and at 70 days it is only 35 per cent. 
 
The silver lining? Most injuries, with collaborative effort and temporary adjustments, do not have to result in prolonged absences. There is growing evidence and consensus that maintaining a connection to work, even in a modified capacity, significantly benefits recovery.

Information from the UK and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians highlights how work not only promotes rehabilitation, but overall, it helps people develop a sense of self and purpose, and improves general health and wellbeing. 
 
From a business perspective, we know that if someone recovers while working, it is more likely they will stay with their employer. Injuries do not need to be a reason for higher turnover. A good recovery-at-work culture can help businesses keep the knowledge, skills and expertise of their people, saving on recruiting and training.

The recovery-at-work model works. ACC recently partnered with Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand to run a trial with two businesses in the road freight transport industry to understand what impact a workplace can have on improving outcomes. 
 
The trial involved nearly 800 employees, including drivers and warehouse staff, HR, a health and safety team, and senior management. The businesses developed industry specific guidelines and resources, ran training sessions, and tracked progress with surveys and monthly check-ins. 
 
While this trial was small scale, overall there were positive results, with one business achieving fewer injuries, a reduced amount of time off work, and an improvement in getting long-term injured employees back into the workplace. 
 
When you consider that injury claims for workers across the road freight transport sector resulted in more than 1.13 million lost workdays over a five-year period, you can see the potential positive impact of a recovery-at-work focus. 
 
Through the trial, it was found the key to success was having recovery-at-work policies or processes that can be followed consistently across the business, as well as clear communication and buy-in from management to promote work as an active part of recovery and rehabilitation. The changes may seem like common sense, but they made a difference when done right.

While supporting recovery-at-work is a great strategy, the best strategy is prevention. Most injuries, in the first instance, are avoidable. It is ACC’s vision to champion injury prevention as both an influencer and a collaborator. 
 
We don’t have all the solutions – that’s why we work with trusted partners and communities who are closest to the problems. They have insights 
and understanding of the sectors they represent and how to best reach employers and workers. 
 
We focus on partnerships in sectors and groups with high rates of injury and harm. Fifty-five per cent of work- related fatalities and serious non- fatal injuries occur in four industries – agriculture, construction, forestry, and manufacturing. 

Young people aged 20-29 are most likely to experience an injury outside of work that leads to time off. Māori are 30 per cent more likely to have a serious non-fatal injury at work than non-Māori.

There is a real opportunity to improve outcomes. The impact for businesses, when quantified, is astounding. For example, in the construction trades sector, Construction Health and Safety New Zealand estimates the 806,933 days off work in 2023 due to soft tissue injuries is the equivalent of: 

• • 546 two-bedroom houses not being built 
  • 2.7 million metres of scaffolding not being erected 
  • 1.67 million metres of long run roofing not being laid 
  • 1.3 million square metres of houses not being painted 
  • 5.7 million face bricks not being laid 
  • 206,000 square metres of vinyl flooring not being laid 

So, what does this mean for directors. Do you have a good understanding of what injuries are keeping your people off work? Are you being proactive – have you sufficiently invested in preventing injuries, as well as helping people recover at work after an injury?