Workers’ compensation data reveals educators more likely to be assaulted at work
An Australian-first study of workplace injury amongst the nation’s teachers and teacher’s aides suggests educators are at higher risk of assault injuries than other workers, and that the risk is higher still among special educators and education aides. Educators were also at elevated risk of mental health conditions, particularly in secondary education and special education.
The study of 84,915 educators between 2009 and 2015 has just been published in Injury, led by Dr Shannon Gray from the Healthy Working Lives Research Group at Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (SPHPM), and Fatimah Al Fareed. The data came from a study of over 1.5 million Australian workers’ compensation claims from the National Dataset for Compensation Based Statistics.
The study found that:
- Educators had lower rates of injury claims than non-educators overall and shorter compensated disability durations.
- However, educators had higher rates of claiming for mental health conditions and assault-related injuries.
- Education aides had the longest disability duration and special educators had the highest rate of compensable mental health conditions.
- Both special educators and education aides had increased risk of assault-related injury claims.
Educators are exposed to several work-related hazards. Evidence suggests musculoskeletal pain, psychological distress, and student-inflicted violence-related injuries are common. However, there is little evidence on the burden of workplace injury among Australian educators.
According to Dr Tyler Lane, a research team member also from SPHPM, compared to non-educators, educators had lower rates of injury claims and shorter disability durations. "However, educators had a higher rate of claims for mental health conditions and assault, with the highest risk being among those in special education and education aides," he said.
"And, among educators, injury claim rates were highest among special educators, education aides, and secondary educators".
The authors stress that the use of claims data in the survey means that “we are likely seeing a major underestimate of the actual rate of injuries, as we suspect educators face unique pressures that dissuade claiming. But, since assault-injuries and mental health conditions are still elevated above other workers, this suggests the discrepancy is much bigger than indicated by claims data.”
Though surveys generally indicate that Australians in the education sector have higher incidences of work-related injuries, this study found lower incidence of injury claims and shorter disability durations than others. According to the researchers, educators’ injury-reporting and absenteeism behaviours may be constrained by ethical, social, and administrative attitudes. Educators had higher rates of claims for mental health and assault-related injury, particularly special educators, and education aides, which suggests a need for targeted prevention efforts.
Click here for more news from the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine