The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has outlined plans to lower its soaring insurance costs as injury premiums have risen 66% over the past five years.
With 20,000 people across Australia employed by the ATO, premiums have risen by $20 million in the past five years which has prompted management to make the change.
The most frequent injuries are body stress and the ATO helps to reduce these injuries for its mainly office-based staff with the implementation of software designed to reduce musculoskeletal injuries by encouraging staff to regular breaks from continuous work.
A spokesperson for the ATO told the Sydney Morning Herald: "In 2013-14, 2930 musculoskeletal injuries were reported, compared to around 3190 in the previous year."
The ATO has appointed five public servants, led by an executive member of staff to form a temporary taskforce designed to help drive down the agency’s premiums.
Internal documents seen by the Sydney Morning Herald note that the office has a “poor track record” when it comes to providing work that injured staff want to complete by returning to their posts early.
The agency’s latest premium rate came in at 2.79% compared with the average of 2.12% across the rest of the federal bureaucracy and the office has set itself a five year goal to draw in line with this average premium.
