Work Injury Compensation in Cairns
If you’ve been injured at work in Cairns or far North Queensland generally, you will most likely be entitled to obtain compensation from WorkCover Queensland, the Queensland Government workplace insurer.
Given the nature of industry that operates in Cairns and far North Queensland, work injuries are extremely common especially in the following sectors:
- Construction
- Mining
- Tourism
- Agriculture
- Transport
- Hospitality
- Services
Depending upon the nature of your injury, and how it was caused the compensation that you will likely be entitled to receive will fall into one of two categories known as statutory claim or a common law claim.
The process of seeking compensation in Cairns or far North Queensland is the same process that is involved anywhere else in Queensland. The first step is to complete and submit a notice of claim form to WorkCover. WorkCover will then consider the claim that has been submitted before having investigations undertaken in relation to both the incident that has given rise to injury and or into the injury itself including having the injured person independently medically examined. Depending upon the outcome of the investigations WorkCover will more often than not make an injured person a statutory offer of a lump sum amount. An injured person has 20 business days from the receipt of Workcover’s statutory offer to elect to either accept the offer or to pursue a common law claim.
If you’ve been injured at work, or you’ve received a statutory offer from WorkCover it is essential that you obtain legal advice at the earliest opportunity. The failure to comply with strict timeframes could mean the loss of your entitlement for compensation.