Check safety and personal cover during Safe Work Month

Safe Work Month during October aims to improve safety and health in your workplace. It may also be a timely reminder to check your insurance and estate planning to ensure your loved ones are protected in case you are impacted by an incident at work.

The theme for National Safe Work Month 2022 is know safety, work safely to encourage everyone to make health and safety in the workplace a priority. Work-related fatalities, injuries and illnesses continue to affect workers, employers and the community, and cost businesses economically.

Being healthy and safe in the workplace means being free from physical as well as psychological harm. A safe and healthy workplace benefits everyone.

Here’s how to check your loved ones are protected in case you are impacted by an incident at work.

Know safety, work safely

A total of 106 Australian workers have been killed at work between 1 January and 11 August in 2022.¹ This figure compares to 85 workers who were killed at work over the same period in 2021.²

Work-related injuries and illnesses also continue to affect workers, employers and the community.

The latest figures show there were 120,355 serious workers’ compensation claims in the 2019-20 financial year³, with the economic cost of work-related injuries and illnesses nationally adding up to almost $62 billion a year.⁴

The costs of workplace injuries and illnesses can be both:

• Direct, where employers pay workers’ compensation
• Indirect, such as lost productivity, current and future earnings, potential output and cost of social welfare programs.

Mental health, just like physical health, is an important part of work health and safety. Work-related psychological injuries (mental illness) have a significant impact on workers, families and businesses.

On average, 7,984 Australians are compensated for work-related mental health conditions each year.⁵ Around 9% of all serious workers’ compensation claims are for work related mental health conditions.

Your insurance

Your life and your ability to make a living are your greatest asset. Personal insurance provides a financial safety net to help take care of yourself and your family following an unexpected event such as illness, injury or death.

Your super is a good place to start when you check what insurance you have and when choosing insurance that’s right for you.

ASIC’s MoneySmart website⁶ says most super funds offer life insurance, with eligible members typically given default death cover, total and permanent disability (TPD) and income protection cover automatically.

How to check what life insurance you have available

Check your latest superannuation statement or log into your online portal to see what you are currently covered for. QSuper account holders can do this by visiting Member Online.

To make sure you and your family are protected, you can use the MoneySmart calculator to help see if there is a gap, or if you have a QSuper account, visit our insurance needs calculator.

Nominate who gets your super

Your super, including any life cover, doesn't automatically form part of your estate and can't just be included in your Will. To ensure your loved ones are protected, you may nominate who you would like to receive your super if the worst should happen.

We provide three nomination options:

If you have a QSuper Accumulation account, you can make a binding death benefit nomination as to who you would like to receive your super (and any insurance benefit you may have) in the event of your death.

If you have a QSuper Income account, you can either make a binding death benefit nomination or choose to nominate someone to continue receiving your Income account payments.

You have the option not to make a nomination.

A binding death benefit nomination lets you decide who will receive your super (including any insurance benefit you may have) in the event of your death.

There are rules about who you can nominate to receive your super. Generally, a super beneficiary is someone who is dependent on you at the time of your death. You can nominate one or more of your dependants.

If you are making a binding death benefit nomination, you can also choose to nominate your legal personal representative (the executor of your Will) to receive your super and distribute it according to your Will.

So, this Safe Work Month, be sure to check your insurance to ensure your loved ones are protected in the event of an unfortunate incident at work.

We’re here to help

QSuper members have access to over-the-phone financial advice. Personal financial advice may help members save money right now, build a better future retirement, protect what they have and set strategic goals.

Find out more

1. Safe Work Australia, 11 August 2022, Preliminary worker deaths by industry of workplace, accessed 19 August 2022, at www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au
2. Safe Work Australia, 19 August 2021, Preliminary worker deaths by industry of workplace, accessed 23 August 2021, at www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au
3. Safe Work Australia, Work-related injury and disease, Key WHS statistics Australia 2021, accessed 19 August 2022 at www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au 
4. Safe Work Australia, Cost of injury and illness by state and territory, accessed 19 August 2022 at www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au 
5. Safe Work Australia, Infographic: Four steps to preventing psychological injury at work, accessed 19 August 2022 at www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au
6. ASIC, MoneySmart, Insurance through super accessed 18 August 2022, at www.moneysmart.gov.au