2 Types of Injuries Covered Under Workers' Compensation Insurance
Posted on: 20 August 2017
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Without commercial insurance, most businesses that suffer financial losses arising out of occurrence of common risk exposures such as worker injuries, property damage/loss, legal claims by third parties and product demand shifts, may have to close down because of not being able to pay for liabilities resulting in financial obligations.
Workers' compensation is a form of commercial insurance paid to employees who are injured while in employment. Typically, it replaces lost wages and medical bills settled with personal monies, but if an employee succumbs to their injury, the insurance policy may cover funeral expenses. Australian employers are required to provide workers' compensation benefits as soon as they employ their first worker.
If you are covered by workers' compensation insurance, you might want to know what sort of work-related injuries are covered by the policy. The laws governing what injuries are "compensable" vary from state to state, but most workers' compensation systems generally cover against the following types of injury.
Physical injuries
Work-related accidents can cause serious and catastrophic physical injuries such as broken leg, spinal cord injury, and shoulder dislocation, which may keep an employee out of the job while they seek medical attention and take time off work to recuperate. Some common causes of on-the-job physical injuries include lacerations, slips and falls, car accidents, and incidents involving machine operation. Because at-work physical injuries are accidental in nature and often occur suddenly, injured workers should seek medical treatment as soon as they can before claiming workers' compensation benefits. The medical report provided by their doctor or physician will be used to determine the extent of the injury and how much compensation should be granted.
Occupational illnesses
An occupational illness occurs when an employee gets sick and the illness that they are suffering from is found to be in some way connected to the nature of the job that they do. However, there must be a clear connection between the illness and the job. Some common types of occupational illnesses include cancer, mesothelioma, asbestosis, heart disease and silicosis. In the construction industry, for example, increased cases of asbestosis may be caused by prolonged worker exposure to friable asbestos, while increased rate of silicosis prevalence may be due to too much exposure to silica-containing concrete dust.
Most states in Australia are constantly making reforms to increase the types of injury that can be covered by workers' compensation insurance. Therefore, Australian workers covered by workers' compensation can anticipate better days ahead.