ACCORDING to new national workers compensation statistics, the number of workers compensation claims for mental health disorder, respiratory disease and neoplasm has jumped.
The Compendium of Workers’ Compensation Statistic Australia 2005-06 shows an increase of mental health disorder claims of 57% between the 1997-1998 and 2004-2005 periods.
At the same time, respiratory disease claims and neoplasm have risen by 59% and 72% respectively. According to the report, these increases can be attributed to asbestos exposure.
However, infectious and parasitic disease claims dropped by 40%, and deafness decreased by 33%.
The report says the reduction in deafness claims might be due to the introduction of minimum thresholds of deafness for compensation.
