Overview of the Seacare Scheme 2003 – 04 – selected statistics
- There are 27 employers covered by the Seafarers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1992 (Seafarers Act), excluding employers where a section 20A exemption for all seafarers was in force at 30 June 2004 (six employers) (Source: Seacare Authority)
- There are 33 employers covered by the Occupational Health and Safety (Maritime Industry) Act 1993
(OHS(MI) Act) (Source: Seacare Authority) - Three insurance companies wrote seafarer workers’ compensation business in 2003 – 04. In addition, some employers support their seafarer workers’ compensation insurance with protection and indemnity association (P&I Club) packages (Source: Seacare Authority)
- There are 3 933 employees covered under the Seafarers Act (Source: Seacare Authority)
- These employees are engaged on 149 ships covered by the Seafarers Act – 53 (35.6%) in the bluewater sector, 77 (51.7%) in the offshore sector and the remainder (16.7%) in the passenger, fishing, aquaculture and dredging sectors (Source: Seacare Authority)
- There are 3 505 full time equivalent employees covered under the OHS(MI) Act (Source: Seacare Authority)
- There are approximately 258 ships covered by the OHS(MI) Act (Source: Seacare Authority)
- The Seacare scheme injury frequency rate for 2003-04 being the number of accepted claims (injuries)
per million hours worked is 12.7 (Source: Seacare Authority) - The Seacare scheme injury incidence rate for 2003-04 being the number of accepted claims (injuries)
per 1 000 employees is 45.6 (Source: Seacare Authority) - There were no work-related fatalities in the Seacare scheme over 2003 – 04, bringing the fatality free period in the Seacare scheme to nine years (Source: Australian Maritime Industry Compensation Agency Ltd (AMICA))
- There were 78 accidents and dangerous occurrences (incidents) of which 72 were accidents and
6 were dangerous occurrences reported to Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) over the year
(Source: AMSA) - There were 208 workers’ compensation claims reported to AMICA over the year, of which 182 were accepted by employers at the date of extraction (14 July 2004) (Source: AMICA)
- The cost of claims, or payments made to and on behalf of employees, in relation to claims lodged during the year is $2 965 531 (Source: AMICA)
- The workers’ compensation premium pool or premium income collected by insurers is approximately
$13 514 000 in 2002 – 03 (Source: Seacare scheme insurers/Taylor Fry Pty Ltd) - The premium pool is based on a wages/salary pool of approximately $273 134 000 in 2002 – 03
(Source: Seacare scheme insurers/Taylor Fry Pty Ltd) - The average unadjusted earned premium across the industry is 4.90% (Source: Seacare scheme insurers/Taylor Fry Pty Ltd)
- 89 seafarers successfully completed a Seacare Authority accredited health and safety representatives
(HSR) training course (Source: Accredited training course providers/Seacare Authority)
Variable contractor requirements in the offshore sector pose unique risks, necessitating constant risk assessment and hazard reduction strategies to maintain strong OHS performance
