Uni insurance: $1.5m ‘stress’ charge

By John Van Klaveren
DEAKIN University faces an insurance bill of more than $1.5 million for mental stress, according to a document obtained by the Independent.
The occupational health and safety committee report said Deakin’s insurance estimate for stress claims of $10,000 and over was $1,582,986.
The latest National Tertiary Education Union member newsletter revealed mental stress directly cost the university $313,000 in the past 12 months.
The newsletter said the union was addressing “many stress related issues” through its latest log of claims.
Issues included fair and effective arbitration in industrial disputes, improving conditions for casual employees, supporting workers experiencing domestic violence and classification and workload issues.
“Workplace stress is a serious issue and steps should be taken to address it,” the newsletter said.
The Deakin OH&S report said the university was in the worst performing quartile for time lost to injury in 2010 in a benchmarking of 30 Australian universities.
The report said Deakin performed better in workers compensation costs and injury rates.
“This difference is explained by the disproportionate number of stress claims, on average twice as costly due to amount of time lost.”
The average lost time rate jumped to 148.5 in 2011 compared to 58.5 in 2010, the report revealed.
The report said Deakin faced seven stress related claims in 2011, 10 in 2010, three in 2009 and 10 in 2008.
Deakin faced six WorkCover claims, three each at its Waurn Ponds and Waterfront campuses.
The report said 76 staff and 53 student and visitor accidents were reported at Deakin’s Waurn Ponds campus.
The Waterfront campus reported 18 staff and 10 student and visitor accidents.
Deakin’s estimated WorkCover premium is $1.28 million, 12 per cent higher than average for Victorian universities.
The Independent reported last month that up to 24 Deakin staff would be notified of “forced redundancy”.
National Tertiary Education Union Deakin branch president Dr Steve Mackey said the cuts were part of the university’s move to “cloud learning”.
A Deakin spokesperson said the stress figures were incorrect but was unable to give details before the Independent went to press.