Preventing injuries while working from home

More Queenslanders are working from home now than before the pandemic, and many workplaces are keen to retain the benefits of remote working into the future.

According to Australian Productivity Commission research published in September 2021, around 40 per cent of Australians are now working from home, compared to 8 per cent before the pandemic.

So how do employers ensure that their workers have a safe and healthy working environment at home, and how does WorkCover determine claims for injuries that happen when working from home?

Working from home injury statistics

To the end of December 2021, just over 100 claims from workers were accepted by WorkCover Queensland, where the circumstance of the injury was working from home. Working from home injuries are a very small proportion of all claims accepted, with more than 65,000 claims accepted across the scheme in 2020-2021.

The most common work from home injuries were fractures, occupational overuse injuries, soft tissue injuries and back injuries.

How we determine claims for working from home injuries

We apply the same statutory tests to claims for work from home injuries as we do for any other injury.

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