Major companies around Australia are coming out firmly in support of a single national workers’ compensation framework, with some claiming competitors allowed to use the federal Comcare system are tens of millions of dollars better off. The companies are joining in the call by insurance associations like the National Insurance Brokers Association and the Insurance Council of Australia for a change to systems based in the states and territories as a Productivity Commission inquiry gets into full swing.

Now ARIMA, the Association of Risk and Insurance Managers of Australasia, is calling for an increased focus on self-insurance for major companies as a way to bypass the cumbersome and expensive state and territory systems.

Claiming self-insurance gives employers “greater control over premiums and claims management”, ARIMA President Brad Greer says organisations bidding for a single workers’ compensation scheme include the National Australia Bank, Woolworths, BHP Billiton and CSR. Many already administer self-insurance schemes – but not for workers’ comp.

Mr Greer says costs would be significantly reduced through a national scheme, but ARIMA also wants self-insurance encouraged more widely for large employers “because its record of return-to-work rates is better than that for people injured under the statutory schemes”.

Self-insurance is “clearly the most effective incentive for the prevention of work-related injuries”, he said. A single licence to self-insure workers’ comp would make them more competitive and ensure scarce resources were better employed.

The Productivity Commission’s interim report is due out in September, with the final report due next March.