A total and permanent disability (TPD) compensation claim can be made by Australian citizens who are no longer able to work because of illness or injury. The injury or illness does not have to be work related in order to make a TPD compensation claim. A TPD lawyer will be able to give you detailed advice on making a claim. Most TPD lawyers are to be found in the population centres of Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, and Sydney. A TPD claim is effectively an insurance claim however not all policy documents are the same and payments depend on the attitude of the trustees of the superannuation document that applies to each individual. It is incumbent on the claimants TPD lawyers to produce medical evidence to prove that the condition is permanent and irreversible in order to claim. A TPD lawyer will be able to give you detailed advice on the application thereby increasing your chance of success. There are generally no time limits on a TPD application except in relation to an appeal against a trustee decision which your TPD lawyers will advise upon as and when necessary. A TPD claim does not preclude or prejudice a personal injury claim for a work-related accident or any other type of accident.
Work Accident Compensation
Most Australian solicitors deal with work accident claims using the no win no fee arrangement – a process whereby you can claim the compensation you may be owed with no financial risk. The lawyer takes care of all the fees and there are no deductions made to your compensation. Win or lose there is usually no charge.
Your employer or the company you work for have a legal duty to consider in advance all the various operations and procedures that you may encounter in the workplace. All activities must be assessed, and efforts made where reasonably practicable to reduce any perceived risk. Employers that shirk this legal duty are putting their staff in danger and any resultant injury will give rise to an accident at work compensation claim.
There are statutes that deal with specific safety issues. If you work with chemicals, for example, they must be properly labelled to indicate the dangers or potential problems involved. Construction workers similarly require a system of risk management to ensure their daily job does not put them in more danger than is necessary.
There are also manual handling operations regulations that deal with the safety issues in moving objects physically from one place to another in the workplace. In general, manual handling should be kept to a minimum, so if you have been involved in an accident due to unnecessary manual handling of objects, heavy or otherwise, then you are in a good position to make an accident at work claim.
Noise is also a serious concern in the work place. You have a right not be subjected to high levels of noise. Proper protection must be in place to avoid noise related accidents.
Ventilation, lighting and other basic issues such as heating and the workstation you work with must all be properly maintained and assessed for risk.
If you have been injured in the workplace you should complete an accident at work claim form as soon as possible. This may involve personally recording it in the report book which employers are obliged to keep or may involve seeing a solicitor who will report the matter on your behalf by way of a formal letter of claim to the employers.
When accidents happen in the workplace, they are often unavoidable, but this isn’t to say that many could not have been prevented! Your place of work must be secure and safe, and your employer has a duty of care to you and all the other people who work with you. If you have been injured it is to your advantage to have the incident recorded as soon as possible.
Claiming compensation for a work-related injury can be simple. With the right legal expert beside you the hard work is taken care of. Often you need not even visit the court, as the employer may accept liability for what happened and therefore you are paid compensation from their insurers as an out of court settlement.
There may be potential complications with any legal case and trusting someone who is not a trained specialist to do your legal work is not a prudent decision to make. It’s not your fault if your employer doesn’t take proper care about employees. If this failure results in you suffering a personal injury, the law is on your side and allows you to make a work accident compensation claim.
It can seem complicated to begin with – a big company must surely have the advantage, right? Wrong! The law ensures that individuals have no disadvantage when it comes to a work accident compensation claim caused by another person’s negligence.
If you are injured and your employer has failed in his legal duty of care, then you will be able to make a compensation claim. To prevent these kinds of accidents, your employer must take particular care over several key issues:-
the health and safety of workers in the workplace
cooperation with employees and consideration of their needs
provide protective clothing, work items and related materials to ensure employee safety at all times
provide proper training and safety briefing
ensuring that work premises are safe and clean
ensuring that machinery and equipment is not dangerous to use
It’s important to think through the sequence of events leading up to the accident. Who saw it happen – do you know how to contact them for witness details? Was the accident properly reported to the employer at the time? If not, report it as soon as possible.
An work accident solicitor is never short of business. Many employers have a cavalier attitude to their employee’s health and safety. Your employer has a duty of care to you and your colleagues and to anyone who enters their buildings. This duty of care is a legal requirement designed by the law to protect employees from personal injury. The workplace can be dangerous, and an employer is under a legal duty to reduce risk, give proper training and provide correct safety equipment. If you have an accident your employer will be held responsible for any injuries if they have failed in their duty of care to you.