| Year Funded: 2012 | Budget: | Funding Agency: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) |
|---|---|---|
| Title: | International Symposium on the Challenges of Workplace Injury Prevention through Financial Incentives (IWH Project 1245) | |
| Category: | Compensation, Disability Management and Return to Work | |
| Subcategory: | Compensation, Disability Management and Return to Work | |
| Keywords: | workers’ compensation, work disability, experience rating | |
| Link to research website: | www.iwh.on.ca | |
Issue:
Although experience rating has become one of the principal policy levers of workers’ compensation providers, evidence of its effectiveness is mixed and it remains a debated and contested topic. For instance, the recent Arthurs review of experience-rating of workers’ compensation in Ontario suggests its efficacy is not proven. The topic has primarily been investigated in the economics literature, but the evidence base is modest, due partly to the unavailability of high-quality measures of experience rating. This international symposium on the challenges of workplace injury prevention through financial incentives was focused on experience rating. The symposium launched the latest research on financial incentives, including the international papers assembled by Tompa in a special issue of the Journal of Policy and Practice in Health and Safety on the topic of experience rating, published in the spring of 2012. The symposium provided a forum for researchers, students, policy makers, injured workers, employer organizations, worker organizations, and other stakeholder groups to learn about the latest evidence, debate OHS incentive strategies, and identify opportunities for improving health and safety of workers.
Objectives:
To present new research findings on financial incentives in workers’ compensation.
To facilitate the exchange of knowledge among academic researchers, students, policy makers, injured worker communities, employer organizations, worker organizations, and other stakeholder groups on financial incentives for occupational health and safety.
To focus on key themes: evidence on the behavioral incentives of experience rating; alternative financial incentives in workers’ compensation premium setting; claim and cost management issues associated with financial incentives.
To support capacity building for research and knowledge transfer and exchange on financial incentives in workers’ compensation.
To identify knowledge gaps and research priorities on the financial incentives in workers’ compensation.
Anticipated Results:
Investigators:
Emile Tompa, Ellen MacEachen (Institute for Work & Health)
