Congratulations to Mark Carroll and the Police Association of SA on drawing to the attention of the SA community and hopefully the SA Government the unfairness of the Return To Work scheme.
The “draconian, detrimental and unfair” results of the scheme are not confined to our police officers and will impact on all injured workers.
Other examples of workers who are at risk of injuries and consequences similar to those referred to in the article (The Advertiser, 6/11/15) include nurses, ambulance officers, firefighters and security guards.
All of these occupations will come into contact with illegal activities that could result in injury.
The guidelines have no regard for the effects of the injury on the individual and this results in unfair treatment.
The solution is that we need a test that does not rely on percentage scores only to determine who is a seriously injured worker.
I propose a test that looks also at an assessment of the effects of the injury on the quality of life of the injured worker which includes a careful assessment of the occupational, social, domestic, financial (including medical costs) and psychological effects of the injury. In states where this exists it is called a narrative test.
As our Government has been elected to govern for everyone, I urge the Parliament to address this very real and serious issue for the benefit of all injured workers.
Click below to see the article, published in The Advertiser on 11 November 2015.