by ABILITY GROUP | Mar 19, 2020 | Injury Management, Workers Compensation
Managing an employee with a workers compensation claim can be challenging & frustrating during normal business conditions, yet what do businesses need to do in unprecedented times of coronavirus (COVID-19)?
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by ABILITY GROUP | Feb 17, 2020 | Bullying, Claim management, Injured Worker, Injury Management, Injury Prevention, Mental Health, Work Health & Safety, Workers Compensation, Workplace safety
Mental health issues are the 3rd most frequent health condition after cancer & heart disease. This means supervisors are likely to be managing workers with mental illness. We have identified common mental health hazards & workplace risk mitigation strategies.
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by ABILITY GROUP | Nov 24, 2019 | Injury Management, Work Health & Safety, Work Health Program
The festive season is notorious for weight gain. The typical Australian Christmas is often centred around family, friends, eating & drinking. For many of us overindulging goes mostly unnoticed as we are busy socialising with family & friends.
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by ABILITY GROUP | May 3, 2019 | Hazardous Manual Tasks, Injury Management, Injury Prevention, Uncategorized
Hazardous manual tasks are the most common causes of workplace injuries with 29% of injuries at work relating to manual handling. We wanted to provide businesses with some key tips that can help you reduce the likelihood of injuries in your workplace.
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by Marc Ring | Apr 29, 2019 | Injury Management
[REMINDER] State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) updated NSW Return to Work (RTW) guidelines back in May 2017. NSW businesses were granted a 2 year period to become compliant & must ensure NSW RTW compliance before 31 May 2019.
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by ABILITY GROUP | Jan 14, 2019 | Claim management, Injured Worker, Injury Management, Reforms, Workers Compensation
Injury Management
Beginning 1 January 2019, the State Insurance Regulatory
Authority (SIRA) are applying new reforms to the workers compensation dispute
resolution process to align with the Workers Compensation legislation Amendment
Act 2018.
The goal of these changes is to minimise dispute by
streamlining the system, making it easier and more effective for claims
processing and support services.
5 key changes which bring positive effects to the injury
management process:
- The Workers Compensation Commission (WCC) will now resolve all disputes, as they now have mandatory internal reviews for injured workers.
- The option to apply for an internal review of the insurer’s decision is still available.
- For a work capacity decision or review of liability, the insurer is required to respond within 14 days. Worker legal costs for reviews of work capacity decisions will be met by Independent Legal Assistance & Review Service (ILARS).
- Notice of insurer decision
- Existing notice templates will need to identify information received from the employer and considered in addition to information received from workers and insurer.
- The insurer is the first point of contact workers compensation complaints and enquiries in the first instance. Injured workers, employers and service providers also have the option to also call the iCare Complaints & Enquiries team on 13 99 22.
- Unresolved complaints and enquires for employers will be directed to SIRA on 13 10 50 or contact@sira.nsw.gov.au.
- Unresolved complaints and enquires for workers will be directed to Workers Compensation Independent Review Office (WIRO) on 13 94 76 or contact@wiro.nsw.gov.au.
- If a worker has a complaint about their employer or provider, they are advised to contact SIRA.
- Permanent impairment compensation without referral to an Approved Medical Specialist may be awarded by the WCC in certain circumstances.
Other smaller changes include:
- The mandatory electronic delivery of workers
compensation information to employees
- Changes to the definition of PIAWE to include
shift and overtime allowances, and ability to settle on PIAWE rate in certain
circumstances.
- Injured workers who receive workers compensation
benefits as well as CTP damages for the same injury will only need to repay to
the workers compensation insurer the amount of weekly payments received.
- Injured workers who were identified
to be in the ‘catastrophic injury’ category will continue to receive medical
benefits under the workers compensation scheme, even if they commute their
weekly benefit entitlements.
If you would liek to discuss or need help, please contact us to discuss.
