The Workplace Safety Management Practices Programme (WSMP) and associated ACC Accreditation is officially dead, and there appears to be no replacement for the audits in the near future. So, what’s happening with ACC levies and will they make workers safe?
The “Experience Rating” System
ACC is now focusing on rewarding good performance. This means that there will now be a no-claim discount programme for small enterprise and an experience rating programme for medium and large businesses.
Currently, 75% of experience rating is based claim duration and 25% is on the number of claim incidences. The initial levies that will apply from 1st April 2017 are based on a business’s claims that occurred between 1st April 2013 and 31st March 2016.
Small Enterprise: If the total number of days off work exceeds 70 (or a business has a fatality) then a business experiences a loading of 10% on their levy. If there are no claims, a 10% discount can be expected.
Medium to Large Enterprise: Can expect a discount of up to 50%, or a loading of up to 75%, according to their experience.
The “Experience Rating” calculation takes into account the industry that the organisation is in, and the business’s claim frequency and time lost to work as a result of injury (LTI’s). NB limits are applied according to a business’ liable earnings during the experience period, see www.levycalculators.acc.co.nz.
What next for ACC Levies?
Option 1: Responsiveness Regime: Align ACC levies to lagging health and safety outcomes such as fatal injuries and weekly compensation claims, with ‘Return to Work Performance’ a secondary factor.
Option 2: ‘Transparency and Responsiveness’ World: Have a “Rating Ladder” with distributed steps that categorise a business from highest loading at the top to a discount at the bottom. For example, a fatality would move a business up the ladder 2 steps. This would also mean that the return to work criteria which is in the hands of medical professionals would be removed.
Will any of this make people safer at work?
The WSMP regime did not improve NZ’s appalling workplace HSE statistics and I don’t believe this will either. Why? Because most business owners believe that bad things happen to other people and their businesses.
I live in the world of human factors and behavioural safety. I believe in reinforcing and modelling good behaviour through immediate communication (“I noticed this was done well today…)”, not through a meaningless sum on a balance sheet.
The WSMP and ACC accreditation process was too easy to fudge and often had very little impact on the people who were on the tools. Our “she’ll be right”, No. 8 wire mentality may be our greatest strength when it comes to giving things a go; however, it is also the reason that we have to tell people their significant other or parent is never coming home.
No amount of insurance tinkering on behalf of ACC will make a difference. People will “Get home safe” when business owners take responsibility for their team and the actions of their organisation and understand that safety is not something that can be farmed out to a consultant.
My suggestion is that ACC either focuses on being the best governmental insurance provider it can be, or look at how they can make the ‘getting back to work process’ even better. Setting yourself up to fail by saying you can fix something that is out of your span of control is like taking the proverbial dead horse and putting a new saddle on it, or giving it a new pastoral routine.
Whatever happens, ACC Levies will still have to be paid, let’s just hope the reason ‘why’ we are doing so is redefined.
Have a safe and productive week,
SB a.k.a. Safety Girl