Study: "Aftermath", The Social and Economic Consequences of Workplace Injury and Illness

WCV'S would like to thank Anna & Rosemary for providing this study.

As this is a very large study, we will be making further comment
once a complete reading has been done.

The following is part of the forward attached to the study which was
written by:

The Hon. Margaret Wilson, Minister for Labor.
Department of Labour and the Accident Compensation Corporation.
Wellington, New Zealand, November 2002

This Study forward clearly explains the situation's injured workers
find themselves in:

She writes: "What this study demonstrates so clearly is that we are all, one
way or other, directly or indirectly,responsible for the prevention of harm at
work or for the care of those harmed.

This is a community issue and requires all those involved in workplace
health and safety (workers, employers, their families and government)
to approach each other with a community of interest in better prevention
and care.

The stories in this study tell us about the sometimes-horrific human impact
of minor slip-ups. They are at times harrowing, with expressions of grief and
loss that cannot but move the reader.

They are also at times full of hope, courage and determination, as those
harmed, their families and workplaces express how they struggled to
overcome the severe consequences that the injury or illness wreaked on
their lives.

At a distance from those directly involved, I would like to thank those
who participated in this study for the honesty and courage they showed
in telling their stories. But as a whole this study does more than express
individual experience.

There are fifteen individual stories from widely different industries,
with very different injuries or illnesses; they express, however,
a collective burden. The weight of the suffering and loss can be seen for
what it is to the community as a whole – a drag on growth, a brake on
success and happiness. Multiply the stories literally hundreds and thousands
of times and you can begin to understand the level of waste, suffering and
loss that unnecessary occupational illness and injury produces.

We owe it to each other to act to change the culture and work practices
in workplaces and the community so that the number of like stories that
can be told in the future diminishes".

Hon Margaret Wilson.

Please email me for a full copy of this paper.