Do I Need Personal Accident & Sickness Income Protection Cover at Work?

Dependent on your individual employment position you may require cover at work.

If you’re engaged as an employee your employer should be covering you for workers compensation in the event that you are injured at work.

If you’re engaged as a contractor you will need to check as to whether your employer/host employer is covering you for workers compensation.

Workers compensation is not uniform throughout Australia and the cover can vary between states and territories. In some circumstances an individual is covered from the time they leave their home front door until the time they walk back in the front door later the same day but in some circumstances cover only applies when at work or undertaking travel on behalf of work. An obvious point of difference between states and territories is cover in respect of “journey to work” which can vary significantly from no cover at all, to eliminating any cover where the journey is not directly to or from work. An income protection policy can eliminate such gaps in cover that may exist under workers compensation.

Another concern for those covered by workers compensation is the difference between states and territories in respect of the benefit payable. Workers compensation benefits can vary differently and an income protection policy can be arranged with workers compensation top up cover to enable benefit level of up to 85% of gross income to be received.

Additionally an income protection cover can be extended to include sickness as workers compensation will not respond to a sickness claim that is not work-related.

To learn more about workers compensation schemes in your relevant state or territory, see websites responsible for overseeing workers compensation as below:

• ACT – www.worksafe.act.gov.au
• NSW – www.workcover.nsw.gov.au
• NT – www.worksafe.nt.gov.au
• QLD – www.workcoverqld.com.au
• SA – www.workcover.com
• TAS – www.workcover.tas.gov.au
• VIC – www.worksafe.vic.gov.au
• WA – www.workcover.wa.gov.au

There really is massive discrepancy between states and territories as to the level of cover provided for workers compensation claims. To get an idea of the disparity involved there are specific comparison documents to be found on the Safe Work Australia website.

Workers compensation benefits can include lump-sum entitlements for permanent disabilities and death. Personal Accident & Sickness Insurance can also offer lump sum benefits in respect of total permanent disablement and death by accident. These benefits are sometimes referred to as capital benefits and are normally available in addition to a standard income protection policy as an optional extra.

It’s important to note the workers compensation benefits will invariably include associated medical expenses with a claim. A Personal Accident & Sickness policy cannot be extended to cover medical expenses.