If you are injured at work, you should report your injury to your employer as soon as possible. When reporting your injury, it is important that the date of injury, nature of the injury and how the injury occurred are correctly recorded. We also recommend that you obtain a copy of the report of injury form for future reference in the event that any dispute arises.
All injuries, even minor injuries, should be reported. Even if you do not believe that treatment or time off work will be required at that time. Often, minor injuries can turn out to be more significant than first thought. Without the initial report of injury being done at the time of the incident, it can be more difficult to have liability accepted by the insurer and often workers suffer long delays before liability is accepted as the insurer will conduct additional enquiries before making any decisions.
Following the report of injury, a claim form should be completed and submitted to the insurer along with a Certificate of Capacity which is an approved medical certificate that relates specifically to work related injuries. This should be done within six months of the date of injury but can be done at a later stage if the injury has resulted in death or serious permanent impairment or if the failure to report the injury was the result of ignorance, mistake or absence from the state.
Within seven days of receiving the claim, the workers compensation insurer should contact you and provide you with a claim number and make a determination on provisional liability. If this doesn’t occur, then you should follow up with your employer and the insurer to ensure that all relevant information has been provided to the insurer. If the workers compensation insurer has all relevant information and is delaying making a determination on provisional liability, you may lodge a complaint with the Workers Compensation Independent Review Office (WIRO) on 13 94 76.
Payments of weekly workers compensation and approval for medical treatment will follow the acceptance of provisional liability. If provisional liability is not accepted, the workers compensation insurer should provide you with written reasons as to why the claim has been reasonably excused.
The acceptance or denial of provisional liability is not a decision on liability. It is only a temporary decision that allows the workers compensation insurer to continue to investigate your claim. A decision on liability should be made within twelve weeks of the claim being received.
In the event that provisional liability or liability is denied, you are welcome to contact the experts here at Taylor & Scott in workers compensation claims. They will examine your claim and if they believe you have a viable claim, they will apply to WIRO for a grant of legal assistance meaning that you will not pay any legal costs whatsoever in respect of your workers compensation claim.
Please contact our expert lawyers on 1800 600 664 or email us at info@tayscott.com.au.
At Taylor & Scott “We Care For You”.
