What is a Form 5 notice? A Form 5 notice, otherwise known as a ‘notice to worker of intention to discontinue or reduce payments’ has the effect of allowing the insurer to legally stop your payments without further notice to yourself ..read more

Please note that this blog is no longer relevant due to legislative changes that were enacted in 2020. We are often asked about how the workers' compensation system operated before this change and thought that it was appropriate to continue to host this blog for reference purposes. If you would like to learn about the legislative amendments that changed the workers' compensation termination date you can read about it here.   What is a 'Form 36 Notice to Worker About Termination Date for Election'? If liability in your workers' compensation claim has been admitted, a Form 36 Notice to Wor ..read more

Workplace deaths – a background.  Information on global workplace fatalities is not reported or collected in a standardised fashion. Formed in 1919 the International Labour Organisation (“ILO”) is an agency of the United Nations and attempts to bring together governments, employers and workers from 187 member states. The ILO maintains statistics on workplace injuries and fatalities but recognises that in many countries workplace accidents and deaths are significantly under-reported. In joint research between the ILO and a couple of Finnish universities it was estimated that in 1998 there ..read more

Anatomy of the shoulder. One of the most complex joints in the body, the shoulder provides nearly 360 degrees of motion. This high range of motion is, however, offset by the decreased stability of the joint which is prone to dislocation and traumatic injury ..read more

Anatomy of the neck, spine, back and spinal cord. In possibly the first historical mention of the spine and the spinal cord, Herophilus (325–260 BC), a Hippocratic physician working in the Alexandrian School of Medicine demonstrated that the cord was an extension of the hind brain and named it the ‘spinal cord’. Around 160 AD, while working as a physician for the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, Galen completed dissections and vivisection's that enabled the anatomical details of the vertebral column, spinal cord and nerve roots to be recorded. Galen described the cord as being like “a river ris ..read more

Rear end car accident injuries – background. Disturbingly in 2019 and 2020 motor vehicle accident compensation claims in Western Australia increased when compared to the previous seven years. This increase is in contrast to the long term trend which has seen the number of road accident related personal injury claims decrease gradually over time. Anecdotally, the recent increase in these compensation claims can be attributed to growing traffic congestion, increasingly distracted drivers, drink and drug driving and time poor road users who speed in an effort to get to their destination. Not sur ..read more

Post-traumatic stress disorder – background. Humans have been exposed to traumatic events throughout our evolution as a species. Unfortunately, the evolutionary process has not improved our ability to cope psychologically with exposure to extremely traumatic events. Here, it is fair to say that an attack from a sabre tooth tiger or being a first responder in a catastrophic car crash can elicit similar physical and psychological responses.    During the First World War ‘shell shock’ became a significant medical and military issue and one that both the Axis and Allied armies str ..read more

At last - legislative relief for injured workers Recent changes to West Australian workers’ compensation legislation, have for the first time in many years, stripped away a statutory obstacle that was a major impediment to injured workers accessing their legal rights and obtaining a sense of justice.   Over the last 20 years, various repressive legislative changes enacted in the states and territories of Australia have impacted adversely on the ability of injured workers to access common law rights and legal damages. Separovic Injury Lawyers views the workers’ compensation legislative fr ..read more

Most workplace injuries involve medical treatment and rehabilitation programs that are provided to the injured worker over many months and sometimes years. In each workers’ compensation claim it is hoped that the injured worker responds positively to their treatment and over time, regains the ability to work. Once an injured worker regains some capacity for work,  they must participate in a rehabilitation return to work program, that usually involves starting with an appropriate and suitable part time work trial gradually building up hours in either the pre-accident job or an alternative ..read more

Injured workers entering the West Australian workers’ compensation system often become frustrated by a lack of information surrounding medical appointments and examinations. Requests to attend medical appointments, usually to be reviewed by a medical specialist  can come from the worker’s employer, their insurer or the worker’s plaintiff injury lawyer. The medical reviews that these parties may request the worker to attend are for the purpose of obtaining medical evidence, in the form of medical reports. This evidence is used for various legal purposes relating to the management of the w ..read more