Workers’ comp study looks at the benefits of a robust psychosocial safety climate

Adelaide, Australia — Employers with stronger psychosocial safety climates experience fewer days lost to work-related ailments, as well as lower injury costs, results of a recent study out of Australia suggest.

A positive psychosocial safety climate, according to researchers from the University of South Australia, can include safe and healthy working conditions for employees, supportive relationships with supervisors, organizations valuing workers’ skills, job autonomy, and lower stress at work.

Looking at workers’ compensation data for 100 employers, totaling almost 13,000 claims, the researchers found that those with better psychosocial safety climates had an average of 68 days lost because of injury. That compared with 177 days for the organizations with psychosocial safety climates characterized as “very low.”

The average cost for those injuries was more than $22,000 for “high PSC” organizations, compared with more than $45,000 for their “very low” counterparts.

“These findings provide more evidence that ‘healthy’ workplaces matter,” study co-author Maureen Dollard, a professor at the university, said in the release. “They are not only important to our psychological health and to prevent injury to workers, but PSC is just as important following injury or illness.”

The study was published online in the journal Safety Science.