COMPENSATION ACT

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 81, 29 December 1928, Page 7

COMPENSATION ACT

YEAR’S PAYMENTS IN NEW SOUTH WALES 61,000 INJURED WORKERS U- 1 ? 6 v, n . nu , al re P ort of the New South W ales 1) orkmen s Compensation Commission tor the year ended June 30, 1928. discloses that over 61,000 workmen received injuries during the 12 months i'or the previous 12 months the figure was just over 50,000. During the 1028 year all except 1.45 of the claims were settled by agreement, the remainder being determined by the Commission at public-hearings in various parts of the State. During the preceding year the percentage of contested claims was 1.37.

. The total cost involved in compensatzlkWU work p r ® wns approximately i.-,000.000, including payments made by licensing insurers and authorised self-in-surers. The estimated cost of administration by the Commission was 1.06 of the premium income of insurers. Employers whose annual wages amounted to over £30,000,000 were authorised under section 18 to undertake the liability of compensating their own workers. I The wage roll of these selfinsurers represents one-quarter of the total for the. State. The report states' that the self-insur-ance provisions were a Aery successful feature of the Act. It is pointed out that self-insurers are directly interested in the enforcement of safety first methods in the performance of their workers’ duties, as well as in the care of injured workers and their rehabilitation. AU employers should be encouraged to adopt safety first methods to prevent industrial injury. On the question of costs the report states that in 111 cases where costs were granted by the Commission to either applicant or respondent, the bills were taxed by the Regist.ar. with the result that in every instance there was a substantial reduction on the original bill submitted. In one case a bill of £164 was reduced to £7B: in another £56 was reduced to £l4 145.; £124 was reduced to £6O. and £ll 13s. 6d. was reduced to £4 os. fid. Of 170 persons examined during the year for incapacity owing to pains in the back, it was found that 125 were due to muscular strain from the lifting of heavy weights. Under the silicosis compensation scheme, compensation was payable at June 30 in respect of 628 beneficiaries, of whom 253 were Broken Hill residents. These cases are grouped as 570 mine workers, 25 bard-hick cases, and 35 mine employees. Di'w’ntr the period the Government paid £54.715. and the Broken Hill mineowners a like amount into the Broken Hill compensation fun-l. out of wh'oh the nbAvo-nient'OTiwl 570 mine workers and 25 hard-luck gases were subsidised.