On 1^st August 2016, Self Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) introduced ‘Reasonable Excuse’ provisions in the Guidelines for Claiming Workers’ Compensation.

Instruction from SIRA states that Insurers are required to provide written advice to the injured worker within 7 days of an injury notification, if the insurer is not commencing weekly benefits.

The written notice does not have to be a formal letter addressed to the injured worker, nor does it need to include any information specific to the worker or injury, a handout/brochure/leaflet meeting the notice requirements will suffice.

GB is pleased to offer our self insured clients an ‘Acknowledgement of Notification of Injury’ form. This form satisfies the notice requirements (as confirmed by SIRA) and is to be issued to injured workers in instances where the insurer will not be commencing weekly benefits.

SIRA have also confirmed that there must be auditable evidence that the worker was provided with a written notice. SIRA will not dictate how this is administered, however the following have been provided as acceptable forms:

• Adapting the injury register to include reference to the issuing of the notice
• Annotation to the register to indicate the notice had been provided
• Check indicator in system based registers to confirm that the notice had been issued
• Emailing the notice (evidence through email trail)

GB are happy to discuss methods currently used by individual employers, and whether these would be deemed acceptable under the required standards. Please contact us if you wish to discuss this in more detail, or to arrange your supply of the flyers.