On a recent trip overseas for an international superhero conference, (can you imagine that much lycra in one room?), I saw some of what is happening in the US in workers’ compensation.

While here in Australia we worry about some poor outcomes – internationally things are worse.

I dropped into one of the states in the USA to have a yarn with others who work in the workers’ comp industry.

The stories of what happens to people with a work injury were disheartening.

Say a chap in a certain American state cuts his hand and slices through a tendon. In an ideal world he'd see a surgeon that day, and have the tendon repaired within a day or two. The normal healing time is six weeks, but he could go back on restricted duties within a few weeks, with the employer being sensible about the duties done.

In this other, faraway world, the process isn't that simple – and it doesn’t take a Superhero to see the negative human impact.

The worker receives a substantially reduced wage, as low as 50% of their normal wages, and the process of assessing the claim takes weeks. There is little incentive for the employer to bring the worker back on restricted duties, so the worker remains off during the entire healing process.

Every claim here is settled with some sort of lump sum, so the worker with the tendon problem goes to their doctor for an assessment of impairment, then the worker’s lawyer sends them to another doctor. They have now stretched out the impairment assessment to enhance the claim.

The worker might receive a few thousand dollars for this type of claim and the lawyer's take is a similar amount. (Going to the arbitration system without a lawyer is frowned upon by the arbitrators.)

When a worker is off work for as long as six weeks the chance of them actually returning to work is significantly reduced. In the above scenario, the chance of the person remaining off work for a very long time goes up.

Employers are cynical about the process, so employees are less likely to be looked after.

There are more than fifty different systems in the US, each with their own rules and regulations. Some are less legalistic, others are frightfully so. The state of New York has a particularly troublesome reputation, there medical opinions are said to be purchased, and the lawyers direct which doctor a patient goes to.

The workers compensation process in the US is typically run by risk managers, and there is a confused pattern of costs and implications, as a result many people, including the bosses of companies, don’t understand what it  is really costing their company.

Complexity and lawyers heavily influence the process. These factors, along with a lack of accountability, are a seriously worrying mix.

While it’s easy to cast judgement on “other” practices, there’s no excuse for recurrent systematic failures and not learning from them.

It would be like watching every Superman movie and not learning to keep clear of kryptonite.

Sure, in comparison, Australia’s workers’ comp system could be a lot worse – but it could also be a lot better. Let’s learn from what does and doesn’t work in other systems and improve our own.