03:09 pm, Monday 23 April, 2012

The O’Farrell government will cut back on workers compensation by slashing lump-sum payments for injured workers and abolishing long-term recipients of weekly benefits from the scheme after a set period.

The NSW government has flagged its intention to amend the $13 billion WorkCover system, which is currently facing a deficit of up to $5 billion dollars. A statement is expected to be released on Tuesday.

According to the Sun-Herald, lawyers and union representatives estimate that half of the 28,000 workers presently receiving benefits and medical expenses would no longer receive a cent under the new scheme.

Barrister Bruce McManamey of the Australian Lawyers Alliance said that the reforms will result to “injured workers losing their homes.” Workplace lawyers said that the reforms, once implemented, would transform NSW into “the meanest system in the country.”

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the reforms would include:

• Abolishment of lump-sum payments for injured workers with “less than 10 percent whole-body impairment (and therefore excluding payment for injuries such as fused ankle or back and neck injuries not requiring surgery).
• Weekly payments cut-off for workers considered to be partially injured after 2 ½ years (or 130 weeks).
• Nine years limit for all entitlements excluding workers who are considered “totally incapacitated.”

Injured workers are currently receiving 100 percent of their ordinary pay for the first 26 weeks off work. Under the new reforms, there would be a sliding scale in which the most that an injured worker could collect is 90 percent of their wage. This would fall to 80 percent after 13 weeks before reverting to the statutory rate.

Mr McManamey said that the New South Wales has currently one of the better schemes, but said the state would have the meanest system in Australia once the changes take place.

“It’s the kind of stuff that will result in injured workers losing their homes. People lose the ability to repay mortgages when they are thrown back on to social security.”

“If they abolish lump sums for injuries less than 10 percent, I think it falls into the category of mean and petty.”

Mark Lennon of Unions NSW said that the state government is “preparing to abandon workers and make their lives even harder.”

A spokesman for the Minister of Finance said that they are “committed to improving rehabilitation outcomes, better rates of return to work and better management of the scheme.”

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12:45 pm, Wednesday 22 February, 2012

Photo: 6PR through
The Sydney Morning Herald

A man has died after falling nine metres to the ground at a worksite in South Perth on Tuesday.

According to reports, two men were using a cherry picker to prune a 50-metre tree when the boom snapped, sending them nine metres to the ground. The 47-year old tree lopper landed on a metal carport and died at the scene. The second victim survived the fall.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the cherry picker had a mechanical fault, sending the basket plunging to the ground.

WorkSafe inspectors are conducting an investigation over the incident and have started interviewing witnesses.

Police will prepare a report for the Coroner.

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11:54 am, Tuesday 6 December, 2011

The amount of compensation claims that businesses spend to workers suffering from skin cancer has doubled in less than a decade.

This is according to a report provided by the Cancer Council in Western Australia which says that total compensation claims for skin cancer has increased to $4 million in 2008-2009 from $2 million in 2002-2002. More than 1,300 workers suffering from work-related injuries involving skin cancer claimed compensation between 2001 and 2009.

Cancer Council Australia’s occupational and environmental cancer risk committee chair Terry Slevin said that the findings should alarm employers. Mr. Slevin also said that a significant number of employers are still ignorant of the fact that ultraviolet radiation is an occupational health and safety concern. “The important message for employers is that all of the cost, stress and pain associated with these claims can be avoided.”

“My advice to anyone who employs people to work outdoors is to develop and institute sun-protected policies and procedures as a priority, or be prepared to face the legal and financial consequences down the track.”

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that more than a third of Australian workers are exposed to direct sunlight while at work. About 200 melanomas, considered as the most deadly form of skin cancer, and 34,000 non-melanoma cancers develop every year due to workers’ exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

Mr. Slevin also says that more money is being spent in workers compensation than those spent on public education campaigns about the importance of sun protection.

“That highlights the need for greater investment in skin cancer prevention in Australia, where we still have the highest rates in the world,” said Mr. Slevin.

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