Australia Updates Catastrophic Injury Regulations, Affecting Workers' Compensation Procedures

In an important update to Australia's safety laws, the federal government has introduced a definition of "catastrophic injury" in the new Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Catastrophic Injury) Rules 2018 (Rules). Covered employers¹ should be aware of this alteration to Australia's safety laws because it may impact their duties when responding to employee workers' compensation filings.

Section 4(1) of the Rules defines "catastrophic injury" as any of the following:

1. a catastrophic spinal cord injury;
2. a catastrophic brain injury;
3. a catastrophic amputation injury;
4. a catastrophic burn injury; or
5. a catastrophic blindness injury.

The Rules contain further details on each of these injury classifications, including the effects of the injury and a Functional Independent Measure (FIM) score sheet² that needs to be completed to assess the severity of the injury for Comcare coverage purposes. By way of background, Comcare is a government system