Knowing when you are covered by Workers Compensation is an essential step in knowing if you have an entitlement to claim.

What is an Injury?

A compensable injury under the Workers Compensation Act is defined under the legislation as a 'personal injury arising out of/or in the course of employment'.

Compensation can be paid for:

*      An injury (e.g. lacerations, strained back muscle, repetitive strain injury - RSI)

*      A disease (e.g. Q Fever)

*      A recurrence or aggravation, acceleration, exacerbation or deterioration of any disease, where the employment was a contributing factor to the aggravation (e.g. swelling of knee from old knee injury resulting from standing on concrete floors)

*      Permanent loss or impairment to a body part (e.g. amputated fingers, permanent loss of function of leg due to back injury)

*      Psychological injuries are compensable (e.g. anxiety resulting from harassment at work)

When are you covered for Compensation?

You are covered for an injury or illness you suffer from the time you leave the front gate of your house until you return to your front gate.  You are not covered once inside the front gate of your property.

This means that you are covered:

*      Whilst you are actually at work

*      Whilst travelling to and from work

*      Whilst on smokos, lappos and meal breaks

*      Whilst carrying out duties in a workplace that you are sent to be your employer

*      Whilst travelling to approved training and whilst attending approved training

*      Whilst at Union meetings or stop work meetings

Your treating doctor plays the most important role in determining if you have an injury and how it may have been caused.  It is important to remember to always to choose your own treating doctor.

You, and others who may have witnessed the incident, play an important role in reporting the circumstances surrounding the injury.  These are the two important things in determining the link between work and the injury.

You may not be entitled to Workers Compensation for certain types of conduct e.g. 'serious and wilful misconduct', or deviating on your journey to and or from work, where the deviation materially increases the risk of injury.

But remember this is a 'no-fault' scheme and unless you do something blatantly deliberate to hurt yourself, you will be covered by the scheme.

The definition of a workplace injury is very broad and includes both physical injury, illness and psychological injury.

Recurrence or aggravation to an existing condition is compensable even if the condition itself was not work related.

You have the right to choose your own treating doctor

Your own treating doctor plays the main role in determining if you are injured or ill and what caused the injury or illness

Compensation is payable whether the injury happened at work or away from your place of employment as long as it was for authorised work related purposes.

It is important that you accurately report the circumstances surrounding the incident/injury

This is a no-fault scheme and unless you do something blatantly deliberate to hurt yourself you will be covered