Self-insurance

Under the Return to Work scheme, large businesses operating in South Australia may apply to be self-insured for work injuries as an alternative to insuring with ReturnToWorkSA.

Self-insured status is available to large businesses that demonstrate effective management of work health and safety and work injuries and who meet the self-insurance requirements.

Our policy on self-insurance provides a description of the characteristics of an employer considered necessary to be self-insured.

Costs and risks

The cost associated with registration as a self-insured employer will vary. The ongoing costs an employer can expect to resource include:

• self-insured fee
• actuarial valuations and reports
• financial guarantees
• excess of loss insurance
• claims management systems
• all claims costs
• claims administration resources
• rehabilitation resources
• Work Health and Safety practitioners.

The costs associated with maintaining these resources is conservatively estimated at $150,000 per annum for a small self-insured employer (i.e. base premium of $500,000 to $1,000,000).

As a self-insured employer you will have many of the authorities, responsibilities and risks of a compensating authority. These include being responsible for claims liabilities, including for claims that have been incurred but not yet reported, potential impacts of financial guarantees on your balance sheet, and management of the life time care and support of seriously injured workers.

For more information about self-insurance, please email selfinsured@rtwsa.com.