8.2 Reporting and making claims
Reporting is also a critical component for making a claim and receiving medical assistance. Reporting procedures must exist in every workplace to ensure that any individual subject to accident or illness can receive workers compensation. Such rights are encoded in all state, territory and national Australian workers rehabilitation and compensation acts or similar legislation. (For a comparative analysis and statistics you can access and analyse, use the National Workers' Compensation Statistics Database at http://nohsc.info.au.com/ ).
While some workplaces and companies can manage claims, most operate under insurance arrangements. All employees' rights are the same and are protected. For claims purposes a sequence of events should occur. This includes:
- Incident is reported according to workplace procedures to the responsible official/person;
- Correct forms are used to report the nature of the incident and the resulting harm;
- If medical treatment or time off work is required a medical certificate is presented;
- A claim is lodged; and
- Notification of outcome of the claim is received (usually within 10 working days from the time of lodgement).
Depending on how serious the injury or illness, compensation will be paid. Usually it is based on the existing salary and it will be reduced incrementally if the injury or illness results in more than12 months off work.
Under legal and legislative requirements a person off work can enter into rehabilitation and be offered an opportunity to return to work on light or alternative, more appropriate, duties. Such rehabilitation and return to work schemes need to be planned and result from close consultation between the employer, employee and the consulting medical practitioner.
It is important to note that reporting needs to occur throughout the rehabilitation and treatment phases. The employer and employee need to be aware that effort must be made to undertake the correct treatment, consult and adopt medical advice, and facilitate early return to work. This should all be contained in an organisation's rehabilitation policy and procedures.
Activity 3
This activity will comprise a three-step process to identify, assess and control hazards in the workplace. The exercise will require you to apply learning and information presented in the past sections and elements of our study within this study guide. The three steps are as follows:
- Analyse the procedures by which your workplace identifies hazard potential. Using these procedures carry out a workplace inspection to determine what hazards exist. You must identify a minimum of six potential hazards.
- Carry out an assessment of the identified hazards using these three criteria:
- Exposure. (How likely is it that exposure to the risk situation will result in an accident? Include a description of how often employees are exposed to the risk and for how long).
- Severity. (What would be the likely impact of an accident on the individual(s) involved, management and any other affected parties?)
- Human Differences. (Are there some people at your workplace who may be placed at a higher risk in some circumstances due to their age, physical capability, pregnancy, knowledge, skill level etc.?)
Note: The assessment must prioritise the hazards and consider physical, human and financial limitations.
- Using previous study guide notes, establish a hierarchy of control to plan one or a series of control options, with the aim of removing, rather than minimising the hazards. Consider physical, human and financial limitations.
- Discuss your findings with your immediate supervisor/manager for comment on the feasibility of your identification, assessment and control measures.
Previous Page