Rotorua businesses can benefit from ACC changes

Changes to ACC levies, aimed at rewarding safe workplaces, create a number of opportunities for business owners to reduce their ACC costs.
Consultant Martin Wouters, from Managing ACC, spoke to Rotorua business people at the Rotorua Convention Centre on Thursday about how they could benefit from the changes.
"There are fantastic options for employers who have a decent health and safety system in place and who are supportive and proactive in this space."
ACC levies have traditionally been set for each industry, based on the safety record across all the sector. Wouters said this meant safety-conscious employers were subsidising workplaces with more accidents.
From April 1 next year, businesses can earn discounts or penalties based on their own records across the previous three years.
"It provides opportunities for business owners to challenge existing levies, minimise accidents and manage 'return to work'. It's about paying less and having more control."
Self-employed (non-PAYE) people and businesses paying less than $10,000 a year in levies can earn a 10 per cent discount if there are no days lost to work-related injuries or incur a 10 per cent penalty if more than 70 days are lost.
For larger employers, paying more than $10,000 a year, discounts and penalties can be up to 50 per cent.
At present employers are responsible for paying compensation for the first week of any work-related injury. But from next year they will be able to pay lower levies, by opting to take responsibility for the first four, eight or 12 weeks of such compensation.
Wouters said the changes were good for businesses, but would create a culture in which employers would question injuries more carefully before signing claim forms and it could change recruitment policy to include questions about work accident records.
Because firms would be penalised once lost days exceeded 70, Wouters said they were now in a stronger position to take control of the return to work process, focusing on rehabilitation in the workplace, which was also better for the employee than long periods off work.
Firms are also able to question medical decisions that could prolong a return to work. He said this was best carried out by specialists, such as Managing ACC, who have the knowledge to compare rehabilitation options and evaluate what is best for the staff member and the employer.
Having good job descriptions for each employee means these can be sent to doctors, giving them the information needed to decide whether a person is "fully unfit to work" in their role.
Employers should also ask permission for an employee's doctor to disclose information relevant to workplace injuries as part of health and safety induction processes.
This provides the employer with the information needed to best help the staff member back to work as soon as possible.
Wouters suggested going back through the past three years to ensure all recorded work-related accidents were work-related - statistically, three out of 10 are not - and he said firms should check they were on the correct ACC levy code.