Welcomefrom Jason HammondWelcome to the final edition for 2013 of our QBE Workers Compensation newsletter, designed to keep our business partners informed of the latest updates happening across Australia.

As we approach the end of 2013, it is becoming apparent that the winds of change will continue to have an impact across the Australian workers compensation jurisdictions as we move into 2014.

Western AustraliaIn WA the Legislative Review 2013 has been announced, representing the second stage of WorkCover WA’s review to deliver recommendations for a new Workers Compensation and Injury Management Act which addresses:

• outstanding recommendations from the 2009 Legislative Review;

• identified technical and process issues with the current Act; and

• a complete redraft of the Act, with the objectives of introducing plain language and contemporary drafting conventions.

South AustraliaIn SA the Deputy Premier and Minister for Industrial Relations, John Rau, has outlined a two-stage process for changes to workers compensation in the State, with the reforms aimed at creating a financially sustainable WorkCover system and delivering better outcomes for employers and injured workers.

Stage One is intended to stabilise the scheme in the short term, while Stage Two will look at significant longer term reform and is about shifting the fundamental management focus onto return-to-work outcomes, including:

• a greater focus on early intervention measures;

• more support for individuals and businesses during the early weeks of a claim; and

• putting the Board on a proper commercial footing.

QueenslandIn QLD the Attorney-General, Jarrod Bleijie, recently announced that the Newman Government will introduce changes to Parliament intended to restore the scheme as the envy of every other state. Mr Bleijie said: “Our scheme will put the focus back on injury management, rehabilitation and return-to-work outcomes for injured workers and a competitive premium for employers.”

Amendments in the legislation will include:

• cracking down on fraudulent claims;

• allowing employers to have access to the claims history of applicants; and

• merging the regulatory functions of Q-COMP into the Department.

New South WalesWithin NSW we see the continued roll out of the legislative reforms that are focused on:

• assisting injured workers to return to work;

• improving financial support for seriously injured workers; and

• returning the scheme to financial sustainability.

At a federal level Senator Eric Abetz, the Federal Minister for Employment, has just announced the lifting of the moratorium placed on private corporations seeking a declaration of eligibility to apply to self insure under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (SRC Act).

Change continues to be a constant in the management of workplace risk around Australia, with a very interesting year ahead.

In this edition we provide an update on many of the legislative and regulatory

changes taking place across Australia, including key initiatives being implemented within QBE. Our final 2013 edition covers:

• the proposed reforms to the South Australian scheme

• an update on workplace bullying legislation in Tasmania

• NSW premium arrangements for businesses impacted by the recent NSW bushfires

• details of the changes to QBE’s workers compensation underwriting support services

• options for you to provide additional financial protection for your employees while they commute

• a case study on road safety from Bob Jane T-Marts

• the recent WorkSafe Vic Safety Award wins by Ambulance Victoria, Boral and Zoos Victoria.

As we quickly near the end of another busy year I would like to express our sincere thanks and appreciation to all of our business partners for your strong support of QBE during 2013.

I wish you a safe and joyous festive season and look forward to working with you and your teams in 2014.

Regards

Jason Hammond General Manager Workers Compensation.

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Workers compensation – keeping you informedNewsletter

National Safe Work Month 2013Michelle Delanter, QBE WHS Coordinator

Based on the success of 2012’s activities, the annual Safe Work Australia Week campaign was this year extended throughout October and adopted the theme ‘Safety is a frame of mind. Get the picture’. Over the month, organisations across Australia were given the opportunity to internally promote the importance of work health and safety through innovative initiatives such as Take 10@10, which encouraged employees to take 10 minutes out of their day to participate in safety-related activities.

QBE took part in the campaign by personalising the national theme to ‘Safety is OUR frame of mind... put yourself in the picture’. The underlying message behind this theme was to encourage individuals to understand that safety in the workplace is a shared responsibility, with everyone playing a vital role in contributing.

Our involvement saw the development of promotional tools such as posters and the publication of safety materials relating to QBE practices. These included educational resources on risk management, incident reporting and investigation, and ergonomic practices, as well as fact sheets on health and wellbeing topics. The materials were published on our QBE

online platform along with a corresponding events calendar for the different state and territory-hosted programs.

All of our Australian operations sites were provided with promotional posters, and each employee also received a guide to workstation setup, provided complimentary from our recent partnership with Konekt for delivering ergonomic related solutions to the business.

Additionally we scheduled a number of online polls on various WHS subjects. These polls received a high level of staff participation and proved to be a great method for collating information on relevant WHS matters that require improvements.

Several WHS committees also played their part in the campaign by hosting events in their locations. In Newcastle a morning tea was held with a guest speaker from Konekt providing an informative session on the adverse effects of a poor ergonomic setup on the human body, including a demonstration of simple prevention strategies.

Our Sydney CBD First Aid Officers assembled for a toolbox session delivered by a representative from St John Ambulance on first aid management procedures.

The committee in Lismore held a different event each week, with activities ranging from branch re-induction of employees to the building, a healthy eating week and WHS trivia questionnaires.

We are pleased with the positive support and contribution made by all during National Safe Work Australia Month 2013 and feel our participation has been a positive step towards raising the profile, and emphasising the importance, of work health and safety at QBE.

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The ‘Journey’ to work A topical issue of late has been changes to Workers Compensation legislation and how these impact employees. A major area of change in some States and Territories has been around exposure for employees travelling to and from their place of employment. As a general theme the cover provided under Workers Compensation has been reducing.

Caring for your staff while they commute To and from work To complement Workers Compensation, QBE’s Journey Personal Accident product covers employees while travelling to and from work and it can also extend to cover them while they are on meal breaks.

QBE offers a full suite of Accident and Health products including Group Personal Accident and its subsidiaries, Journey, Voluntary Workers, and Sports Injury insurance. Supplementary health offerings such as Expatriate and Inpatriate Medical, Corporate Travel solutions and cover for individuals such as Individual Personal Accident, is also available.

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Overseas protection and support when travelling for businessAs an Accident and Health insurer it’s our business to know where to find the most appropriate medical assistance and how to arrange it, so it’s crucial we have access to global medical networks. QBE owns and runs our own assistance company, QBE Assist, which handles thousands of emergency situations every year and, when needed, sends our own medically trained staff to escort our customers home.

20 Years of experience underwriting Accident and HealthQBE Accident and Health Insurance covers a broad spectrum of risk factors providing employers with tailored solutions to best protect their people. QBE has been underwriting Accident and Health programs for over 20 years, giving you confidence that we understand the risks and the importance of safeguarding your employees’ health.

Want to learn more...why not ask your broker.

Be an employer of choice by proactively protecting your staffTroy Murley, Portfolio Manager, Accident & Health

No matter what situation you’re looking at, whenever there are people involved, there will always be people risk. When it comes to business, people risk exposures present themselves as the accidents and illnesses that can occur in the workplace, on the way to and from work, when travelling for business or while someone is performing voluntary work for your business. To provide cover for this risk and protect your employees on the job, we have workers compensation, however there are gaps in cover and circumstances that may not be covered, which all employers should be aware of.

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Reforms to South Australian Workers Compensation Scheme Gary Ulmer, QBE Business Manager, Employer Consulting Services – SA & WA

Reforms to the South Australian Workers Compensation scheme are aimed at creating a financially sustainable WorkCover system as well as delivering better outcomes for employers and injured workers.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Industrial Relations John Rau has outlined a two-stage process for changes to Workers Compensation in South Australia. Stage One will stabilise the scheme in the short term, while Stage Two will look at significant longer term reform.

Stage OneThe first stage is about shifting the fundamental management focus onto return-to-work outcomes, including:

• a greater focus on early intervention measures;

• more support for individuals and businesses during the early weeks of a claim; and

• putting the Board on a proper commercial footing.

The package consists of a new WorkCover Corporation Charter with specific measures that the Government expects WorkCover to undertake, a new WorkCover Performance Statement that sets out the required time frames, and a Bill to amend the WorkCover Corporation Act to increase Board accountability.

Stage TwoA second stage will propose a root and branch recasting of the scheme which will consider its foundational characteristics. A discussion paper will be published in the near future to canvas ideas of how a new scheme may look. Extensive consultation regarding Stage Two will occur over the coming months.

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Workplace Bullying Legislation in TasmaniaPhil Chisholm, State Manager Tasmania, QBE Workers CompensationReaders may have noticed the ABC News feature on 8 October in relation to current activity around workplace bullying legislation in Tasmania.

The WorkCover Tasmania Board is looking at strategies that will include practical measures to help reduce the prevalence of workplace bullying and minimise the impact of any inappropriate behaviour in the workplace when it does occur. The strategy is also being developed to ensure that the nationally approved definition of workplace bullying is understood and correctly applied in Australian workplaces. Key stakeholders, including the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, are involved in developing the strategy paper.

The aim is also to develop ways to build the capacity of organisations to prevent the occurrence of inappropriate behaviour and be able to deal with any instances in a systematic, timely and fair way.

It is expected that a final draft will be presented to the Board in late 2013 after a period of public consultation.

By definition Workplace bullying usually involves the persistent ill treatment of an individual at work by one or more other persons. It need not be physical ill treatment such as punching or kicking, and in most cases involves verbal abuse, nitpicking, threats,

sarcasm, ostracism or sabotage of a person’s work. In today’s world of technology bullying can also be carried out via electronic workplace communication systems such as e-mail, text and online forums.

Some bullying is covered by anti-discrimination laws. Bullying behaviours can be unlawful less favourable treatment or detriment under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (Tas) (the Act) if related to one or more of the attributes covered under the Act.

Section 17(1) of the Act says that a person must not offend, humiliate, intimidate, insult or ridicule another person on the basis of sex/gender, marital status, pregnancy, breast feeding, parental status or family responsibilities where a reasonable person, having regard to all the circumstances, would anticipate the other person would be offended, humiliated, intimidated, insulted or ridiculed. This can be a form of bullying; it is unlawful.

It is important to note that where workplace harassment or bullying does not relate to attributes covered by anti-discrimination law, it still constitutes a serious workplace problem and can be considered a breach of occupational health and safety, workers rehabilitation and compensation laws, or criminal laws relating to assault, threatening behaviour, and so on.

Organisations are responsible for providing a safe working environment for their employees. This is a legislative requirement. Section 104 of the Act states that an organisation is to take reasonable steps to ensure that no member, officer, employee or agent engages in discrimination or prohibited conduct. Further it states that an organisation that does not comply with this section is liable for any contravention of the Act committed by any of its members, officers, employees or agents.

For further information go to the Safe Work Australia website.

Bob Jane - A road to SafetyMike Boyd, QBE Consultant OHS & Risk Management

Bob Jane T-Marts is a widely known brand, comprising a national network of franchised and company-owned retail tyre stores that make up Australia’s largest independent tyre retailer. What is less widely known however is that Bob Jane T-Marts has an active and ever-improving safety program, spurred by an industry-wide WorkSafe Victoria inspection program a few years ago that raised awareness of the requirements of modern WHS legislation.

Following the program, Bob Jane T-Marts purchased new machines, including balancers which lift tyres from the floor, eliminating a manual handling task.

In addition, managers from stores and franchises around Australia last year received WHS training in legal responsibilities, hazardous manual tasks and incident investigation.

Currently, an innovative safe work practice e-Learning program is being developed using workplace video and photos to maximise relevance and appeal and to best achieve standardised practices.

The National Risk Manager driving these programs, Angelo Bootlis, is delighted with the approach being taken saying “it will help us to standardise our safety practice and save us time travelling all over Australia to deliver training which can be a logistical nightmare, not to mention that it takes people out of the business. “Another good feature of this program is that staff can do the training whenever and wherever they want.”

QBE has been pleased to help make this safe work approach possible by providing the WHS management training needed and producing the video materials for Bob Jane’s learning management system.

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NSW bushfire update for Workers Compensation Premium PaymentsMark Holman, Manager Underwriting, QBE Workers Compensation NSW

In light of the devastating bushfires in NSW recently, the NSW Government announced the deferral of workers compensation insurance payments for businesses affected by the crisis.

Extension of payment period for those directly impactedThe premium payment period will be extended until 30 June 2014 for businesses that have an insurance premium due to be paid between 14 October 2013 and 31 March 2014 and have been directly impacted by the fires under the following circumstances:

• premises/facilities destroyed or damaged

• unavailability of staff due to volunteering or impacted themselves

• restricted trade due to business location

In addition to businesses fitting this criteria, WorkCover will consider those affected by other circumstances, including others within the immediate surrounding area that may be impacted by the unavailability of staff.

EnquiriesShould any of your impacted clients require premium relief or have any questions relating to their policy, please speak with your local Business Relationship Manager.

You can view the Minister’s press release regarding this issue on the WorkCover website at www.workcover.nsw.gov.au and go to the newsroom.

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Dear broker partners, please be aware that QBE Workers Compensation is continuing to implement initiatives to enhance our operational efficiency and improve the support we provide to our intermediaries and business partners.

From 7 October 2013, we began centralising many of the support service activities for our underwriting service teams in Western Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and Northern Territory, including Key Accounts. These changes are designed to help standardise and simplify processes to make them more efficient and consistent.

What you need to doWe are asking our QBE intermediaries and business partners to send all standard underwriting requests for WA, NT, TAS and ACT, including Key Accounts, to the following email address:

workerscompunderwriting@qbe.com

The types of requests you can now send to this central address include:

• quote requests

• endorsement requests

• requests for certificates of currency

• cancellation requests

• binding instructions

• closings

• wages declarations

• responses to requests from our centralised service team

Our central service team will perform support tasks and prepare information for our underwriters as necessary. All other correspondence and phone calls should continue to be directed to your dedicated local QBE underwriter or relationship manager.

ebusiness for SMEs SME new business and renewals can be transacted via the QBE Workers Compensation on the c.ch@nge/Sunrise system. This system offers full policy service and administration for certificates of currency, policy schedules and wordings.

Please contact your local ebusiness advisor to organise connectivity or training for the system.

Should you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact your business relationship manager or, for key accounts, please contact your dedicated national account manager or underwriter.

Changes to Workers Compensation underwriting support servicesLeigh Ebzery, QBE Manager, Underwriting

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Annual WorkSafe VIC Awards 2013Katrina Crombie, QBE Team Administrator

QBE would like to congratulate the following winners of the Annual WorkSafe Vic Awards 2013. This achievement is a wonderful reflection of not only a strong commitment to their staff but also to growing a culture of safety throughout their businesses.

Health and Safety Representative of the YearJedda McGlinchey – Ambulance VictoriaWorking as a paramedic for four years in the western suburbs of Melbourne, Jedda has a passion for the health, safety and the wellbeing of her colleagues. She has been proactive in her collaboration with all levels of the business to achieve better workplace conditions for her work group. Jedda also facilitated successful negotiations with management for a new ambulance branch building and plays an integral role in addressing staff concerns around fatigue, manual handling and security issues.

Commitment to Workplace Health & WellbeingDowell (Boral)When looking into the health and wellness needs of its 100-strong workforce, Dowell left no stone unturned. The result was a wellness strategy in partnership with external provider EACH Community Health. This strategy included systems change, leadership support, creating sustainability in the physical and psychosocial work environment and increased resource commitment - just to name a few!

Initiatives have included establishing a health and wellbeing committee, health seminars, a smoke-free work site and catering guidelines as well as seeing health promotion being embedded in Dowell’s practices. Dowell is pleased to report it has seen a significant return on investment along with injury risk reduction.

Health and Safety Committee of the YearHealesville Sanctuary, Zoo’s VictoriaHealesville Sanctuary’s established Health and Safety Committee (HSC) has a strong presence among staff and prides itself on implementing a strong ‘safety first’ culture. As a result the Committee is proud to report no lost time injuries to date for this financial year. The HSC places particular emphasis on a new focus point of safety each month and providing a platform where staff can feel comfortable to report any issues. Healesville Sanctuary has reported a reduction in workplace injuries and credits the hard work and dedication of the HSC in contributing toward this result.

Want to know more?To find out more and read about the winners in other categories, visit the WorkSafe Awards website.

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10 QBE Workers Compensation

Vocam Group established 1990

>> Customise it << your way.

Reduce risk, comply with your legal obligations and meet your targets by helping to keep staff safe without them having to leave the building.

QBE and Vocam – A training partnershipBringing high quality e-learning to our clients, QBE Workers Compensation training partner Vocam has developed its own e-learning system, Safety-TV, which provides over 400 online, interactive, multimedia training titles. Safety-TV includes automatic access to new releases and the option to fully customise e-learning content and assessments.

Safety-TV• Easy to use

• Over 400 Vocam titles

• Reporting & training history

Want to know more?This offering will be available for a limited time, so we suggest you contact your QBE business relationship manager or the QBE workers compensation national training coordinator at training@qbe.com or ring on 1800 198 243.

Visit us at: www.vocam.com/au/qbe

If you are a QBE client with more than 200 employees, we are offering a free OHS eLearning trial. We can also offer all of our clients a 30% discount on Vocam OHS Training Products.

Keep one step ahead of your training needs

Add Safety-TV video chapters to your own courses.

Add your own content, create your own courses.

Add your own questions to existing Vocam titles.

Apply your brand to all training material and access points.

Keep one step ahead — plan your training and enrol today

The range of courses offered by QBE have been developed specifically to assist employers and intermediaries manage risks associated with Work Health and Safety and Workers Compensation. By keeping one step ahead of your training needs, you help your staff to improve their knowledge of how to reduce risks and contribute to the development of safer workplaces.

To view the full calendar, visit our website: www.qbe.com.au/workerscompensation/training

Enquires can be made to QBE via: Ph: 1800 198 243 Email: training@qbe.com

Workers Compensation Training Calendar 2014

New South Wales

Sydney (02) 9375 4444

Lismore (02) 6627 5999

Newcastle (02) 4968 6444

Parramatta (02) 8831 0322

Wollongong (02) 4224 3487

ACT

Canberra (02) 6201 3333

Tasmania

Hobart (03) 6237 3866

Launceston (03) 6332 0799

Victoria

Melbourne (03) 9246 2444 1800 817 820

Bendigo (03) 5440 4700 1800 807 585

New South Wales

Geelong (03) 5226 8788 1800 817 820

Glen Waverley (03) 9246 2444 1800 817 820

Shepparton (03) 5823 6400 1800 807 628

Northern Territory

Darwin (08) 8982 3877

South Australia

Adelaide (08) 8213 5300

Western Australia

Perth (08) 9213 6100

Bunbury (08) 9721 9200

Self Insurance Services

(03) 9246 2446

QBE Australia

This newsletter is prepared exclusively for clients and intermediaries of QBE. It provides general information only. It does not take into account matters specific to your business. You should always seek independent professional advice before acting upon anything in this newsletter. No part of this publication can be reproduced without the written permission of QBE Insurance (Australia) Limited ABN 78 003 191 035.J4

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