Occupational injury risk among Australian paramedics: an analysis of national data
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Abstract:
Objective: To identify the occupational risks for Australian paramedics, by describing the rate of injuries and fatalities and comparing those rates with other reports. Design and participants: Retrospective descriptive study using data provided by Safe Work Australia for the period 2000–2010. The subjects were paramedics who had been injured in the course of their duties and for whom a claim had been made for workers compensation payments. Main outcome measures: Rates of injury calculated from the data provided. Results: The risk of serious injury among Australian paramedics was found to be more than seven times higher than the Australian national average. The fatality rate for paramedics was about six times higher than the national average. On average, every 2 years during the study period, one paramedic died and 30 were seriously injured in vehicle crashes. Ten Australian paramedics were seriously injured each year as a result of an assault. The injury rate for paramedics was more than two times higher than the rate for police officers. Conclusions: The high rate of occupational injuries and fatalities among paramedics is a serious public health issue. The risk of injury in Australia is similar to that in the United States. While it may be anticipated that injury rates would be higher as a result of the nature of the work and environment of paramedics, further research is necessary to identify and validate the strategies required to minimise the rates of occupational injury for paramedics.Keywords:
Occupational injury
Case fatality rate
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Whereas national prevalence estimates for workers' compensation benefits are available, incidence estimates are not. Moreover, few studies address which groups in the economy pay for occupational injury and illness when workers' compensation does not.Data on numbers of cases and costs per case were drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and National Council on Compensation Insurance data sets. Costs not covered by workers' compensation were estimated for private and public entities.Total benefits in 2007 were estimated to be $51.7 billion, with $29.8 billion for medical benefits and $21.9 billion for indemnity benefits. For medical costs not covered by workers' compensation, other (non-workers' compensation) insurance covered $14.22 billion, Medicare covered $7.16 billion, and Medicaid covered $5.47 billion.Incidence estimates of national benefits for workers' compensation were generated by combining existing published data. Costs were shifted to workers and their families, non-workers' compensation insurance carriers, and governments.
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In 1990 job-related injuries are estimated to have cost American employers over $60 billion in direct workers' compensation expenses, a figure which has doubled in the past four years and which may do so again by 1995. The medical costs of treating work-related injuries and illnesses are estimated to have consumed 41 percent of workers' compensation payouts for 1990, the remainder by indemnity claims costs. Taken together with a 17.1 percent increase in group health care costs in 1990, there is concern for the maintenance of a reasonable business atmosphere under which businesses may remain competitive and prosperous, and employment will be available.
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noted, in one of the most often quoted observations on the subject of workers ' compensation, "[p]erhaps the most evenly-balanced controversy in all of compensation law is the question whether a third party in an action by the employee can get contribution or indemnity from the employer, when the employer's negligence has caused or contributed to the [employee's] injury."' Both state and federal workers' compensation acts contain exclusive-remedy provisions that limit an employer's liability to the payment of workers' compensation benefits; 2 the question, however, is to what extent these limitations affect a third party's traditional rights of contribution or indemnity from other negligent parties.Workers' compensation creates an equation that roughly balances the sacrifices by and benefits to both employers and employees.Employees receive faster and virtually certain recovery, while sacrificing their claims against employers; employers assume a new liability, while being relieved of large damage verdicts. 3 This balance, however, fails to ac-1.2A A.
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A former employer of a worker who contracts a disease of gradual onset during their employment may be liable to indemnify a subsequent employer ordered to pay statutory compensation.
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The California workers' compensation program provides medical care and indemnity benefits to workers who suffer on-the-job injuries or illnesses. The key objective of this third report in a three-part series is to describe access to medical care among injured workers in California using medical billing data from Version 2.0 of the Workers' Compensation Information System.
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The California's Workers' Compensation program provides medical care and indemnity (e.g., wage-replacement) benefits to workers who suffer on-the-job injuries and illnesses. This Year 2 report updates the trends in care for injured workers in California that were examined in a Year 1 report — all part of a three-year state effort. This study uses data from claims, a physician survey, and Medical Provider Network listings.
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The aim of the study is to describe cost and frequency of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in Kansas.
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Limited LiabilityUnder the California workers' compensation system,I an employee injured on the job is compensated by the employer regardless of the employer's responsibility for the injury.'The amount of compensation is dictated by statute, 3 and the employee is prohibited from pursuing any additional recovery against the employer.The workers' compensation system thus benefits both the employee and the employer; by avoiding the expense, delays, and uncertainties of litigation, the system guarantees the employee a swift and certain recovery and limits the extent of the employer's liability.While the California workers' compensation system limits an employer's liability to the employee, it expressly preserves an employee's right to recover full tort damages from a third-party tortfeasor. 4 This right, in conjunction with the rule of joint and several liability for multiple tortfeasors, may result in a negligent third-party tortfeasor being held liable to an injured employee in an amount beyond the third party's comparative responsibility for the employee's injury.Where possible, third parties may seek to avoid this risk of liability to employees through contractual indemnification clauses which require the employer to reimburse the third party for any such liability it may incur.While these clauses do protect third parties, they create an additional loss allocation problem, as they result in an employer being responsible for the full tort recovery of its employee: a result in direct conflict with the workers' compensation scheme.This Comment examines this conflict in the context of the construction industry.Part I provides background on the California workers' compensation system and the employee's right to seek a full recovery against third-party tortfeasors.Part II explains how indemnification clauses shift the third party's liability to the employer, in con-*
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