Trends, costs and correlates of stress-related workers' compensation claims in a public sector workforce

In an era of increasing policy focus on the prevalence and cost of stress claims, there are few studies that have examined claim trends over time. We aimed to test whether the rates and cost of stress-related (SR) claims have changed over time, and to investigate the costs, and characteristics of these claims in a public sector workforce. Routinely collected worker's compensation claim data from 2007-08 to 2011-12, comprising 5,851 claims drawn from the Tasmanian State Service, was analysed in this study. Rates of claims submitted by men and women were very similar for SR claims and showed little change over time by sex. SR claim costs were approximately AUD$10,000 higher (median) than non-stress-related (NSR) costs for men and AUD$11,000 for women. Overall, we observed no change in the rate of SR claims over time. While costs were stable over time they were significantly higher for SR claims.