Work injury prevention and workers’ compensation agencies in Canada and Australia have a growing interest in approaches to prevent and manage work-related psychological injuries. This is due to the increasing number of these conditions, and their greater wage replacement and health-care costs compared to physical injuries. Despite this interest, there have been few formal comparative overviews of approaches taken to prevent and/or manage these types of injuries across different jurisdictions.
The objective of this project was to explore the extent to which workers’ compensation systems provide coverage for different types of psychological injuries; the strategies both workers’ compensation systems and occupational health and safety (OHS) prevention agencies adopt to address psychosocial exposures in the workplace both before and after injuries occur; and the benefits, challenges and other outcomes of each of these strategies from the perspective of those working in these jurisdictions. The findings from this project will be of interest to policy-makers in other jurisdictions, both within Canada and Australia, and more broadly.