topic Re: Work place injury in Community Spirit

Work place injury

daydream**believer — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 10:46:53 GMT

Hi everyone.

i work as a cleaner and in July this year I had a fall at work which pretty much destroyed my left elbow.

Six weeks ago I had a full elbow reconstruction.

My work and work cover have been great.

My surgeon has said I will not be back at work this year and he is doubtful I will ever be able to go back to my job ever again.

So work cover are talking about me seeing a workplace consultant and starting "external work hardening".

Anyone else done anything like this? What is it?

Re: Work place injury

mloreason — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 11:43:25 GMT

I just looked it up daydream. You more than likely know that the idea is to place you in an unpaid position with an employer for the purpose of gaining skills. Then ideally that employer or another one will offer you a paid position utilising your newly gained skills. I don't know how successful it is.

Re: Work place injury

lyndal1838 — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 15:17:31 GMT

To put it crudely, they want to retrain you for something else so they can stop paying you what you are entitled to.

Re: Work place injury

go-tazz — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 21:53:34 GMT

They were going to do something like that for me back 1996 when I mangled my right hand but I went back to

were I had been working in a leading hand role instead as they deemed my injury to severe for the program to

work.

It may have changed since then but it's still to reduce their responsibility.

As mentioned,the idea is to retrain you where you don't need to use that left arm/elbow as much and get you

alternative employment so they don't have to keep paying you and it would also reduce any payout as they

will state that the injury doesn't affect you much.

Just make certain that you let them know if there is any problem with it,(both mentally and physically).

It may work as long as they don't try and put you in a job that is going to test you to much and the skill

level required is too high,(or a type of job that you have no interest in).

Re: Work place injury

daydream**believer — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 22:22:00 GMT

Ok, this has me worried.

my surgeon says I will need a years worth of physio, twice a week.

surely, no matter what other work they are going to try and train me for, they are still going to need to pay for the years worth of physio?

what if this training gets me another job? Does that mean they stop paying for the physio?

So, I've been really happy with how good workcover has been to me but should I start thinking that every move they make now is trying to screw me over and get me off their books?

Re: Work place injury

davidc4430 — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 22:30:28 GMT

i seem to remember the liberals dreaming up the idea of getting as many unemployed people shifted on to disability payments to make the unemployment figures look better.

then there was the idea of reducing the hours of work per week to 1, if you do 1 hours paid work your not unemployed.

now they are trying their hardest to kick people off disability payments.

its one area liberals are consistent in, they would love to stop paying any money to anyone not working.

that includes unemployed, pensioners and disabled people

but be a wealthy family with kids and they would love to pay you to have a nanny!

Re: Work place injury

daydream**believer — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 22:38:32 GMT

I'm not on disability and this is nothing to do with politics.

im still employed and am on workcover

Re: Work place injury

go-tazz — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 22:51:17 GMT

@daydream**believer wrote:
Ok, this has me worried.
my surgeon says I will need a years worth of physio, twice a week.
surely, no matter what other work they are going to try and train me for, they are still going to need to pay for the years worth of physio?
what if this training gets me another job? Does that mean they stop paying for the physio?

So, I've been really happy with how good workcover has been to me but should I start thinking that every move they make now is trying to screw me over and get me off their books?

They will always be responsible for the costs of your Physio to rehabilitate that arm/elbow,(my left arm is also

covered as I was/am right handed and have to now do so many things with my left arm).

They can't get you of their "books" as it's a work place injury that they've accepted responsibility for,(so they

have to pay for ongoing treatment of that injury).

Even if you got a payout you would still be covered,(a lawyer will put that in place if you go that route).

Re: Work place injury

lyndal1838 — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 22:52:06 GMT

@daydream**believer wrote:
Ok, this has me worried.
my surgeon says I will need a years worth of physio, twice a week.
surely, no matter what other work they are going to try and train me for, they are still going to need to pay for the years worth of physio?
what if this training gets me another job? Does that mean they stop paying for the physio?

So, I've been really happy with how good workcover has been to me but should I start thinking that every move they make now is trying to screw me over and get me off their books?

I am not sure about stopping the payments for the physio but if you get any other paid employment no matter how many hours you work or how low the pay is they will stop your other payments.

And yes, from now on every move they make is trying to screw you over.

Re: Work place injury

davidc4430 — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 23:36:43 GMT

he is doubtful I will ever be able to go back to my job ever again.

this would kinda make you unemployed unless your employer has a job you can do, i would imagine they will need another cleaner to do your job.

workcover doesnt go on forever i suspect.

has to come a day when workcover stops and unemployment starts.

Re: Work place injury

lyndal1838 — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 02:02:36 GMT

@davidc4430 wrote:

workcover doesnt go on forever i suspect.

has to come a day when workcover stops and unemployment starts.

It can go on until the doctors say there is no hope of the person ever going back to their orginal job. They should either make a lump sum settlement or retrain the person for another job that they can do. They cannot just dump anyone on unployment benefits.

Re: Work place injury

*tippy*toes* — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 15:14:19 GMT

It's against the law to sack someone on workcover. If it turns out to be long term off work, they cut your payments back to a fraction of what you''d be earning while working. The insurance cuts the payments, not the employer.

I was a victim of workcover in the early 90's. Hated it at the time, but I couldn't work my job to full capacity and retrained to what I'm doing now. I often say that doing my back in was the best thing that could have happened because I can honestly say I love my job. When they discussed retraining I was allowed to tell them what I was interested in. I wanted to become a mechanic but they wouldn't approve that with a back injury!

Re: Work place injury

shepherdsrule — Sun, 23 Oct 2016 00:42:16 GMT

Sheesh DDB, you can not take a trick can you ?

As if you hadn't enough to deal with..........

Keep in constant touch with the health professional you are seeing, and do NOT let anyone push you into something that you do not think will suit you or that you feel you are not ready for.

goTazz is right and has great advice for you. Always keep all documentation and copies of same, and I really do hope things start to look up for you soon.

Re: Work place injury

daydream**believer — Sun, 23 Oct 2016 11:45:24 GMT

Thanks everyone for your advice.

yeh, this year has definitely been a testing one for me, and it ain't over yet.

but, what's that saying? What doesn't kill you makes you stronger?

Well I'm bulking up big time. Ready to take on whatever life is gonna throw at me

Re: Work place injury

krylekathe1 — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 03:35:41 GMT

What you can do is think about what you could do in the future (when elbow is better). Look at it as an opportunity. Work cover will try to get you off its books ASAP. Feel free to dispute their findings.

But if you have an idea of what you might be able to do in the future that you would enjoy ... push them to pay for training in this area. If you go in to your meetings with some ideas, it might stop them pushing you into something you hate.

My mother (physio) had a back injury at work. Work cover wanted to retrain her to assess clients over the phone (be a case worker). Big issue - she couldn't sit nor stand for any length of time, but they were pushing her so badly. Their doctor who didn't even see her did a report saying she was ready for that!

She disputed it & a few years later is back working part time. Work cover still pays some medical stuff.

Just saying ... don't let them bully you into doing anything. They are not always right. You can dispute it.