WorkCover’s accident insurance policy covers you and your workers if a work-related injury or illness happens.
In Queensland, if you employ workers you must insure them against work-related injury or illness. Unless you’re a self-insurer, you need to take out a policy with WorkCover.
As a Queensland business or employer, you and your workers help keep our state moving, so it's important to have the right cover in place to keep things on track if someone gets injured at work.
Under the law. In Queensland, employers need to have workers' compensation insurance.
WorkCover is proud to cover most Queensland employers.
We support more than 175,000 businesses across the state.
A WorkCover Queensland accident insurance policy protects your business and your workers if someone is injured or gets ill because of work.
Did you know, WorkCover is backed by employers, not by taxpayer dollars?
This means we are not driven by profits or shareholders.
In fact, we are fully funded by the premiums paid by employers, underpinned by strong investments that help to subsidise premium costs.
For Queensland businesses, we exist solely to cover businesses and help Queenslanders recover and get back after an injury or illness at work. Our premiums are among the lowest.
In Australia, we help more than 90% of workers to get back to work safely.
If we accept a claim, we can usually cover lost wages and medical and treatment costs to help your worker recover and get back to work safely.
Watch our other video to find out about different claim types.
It's good to know your policy covers a wide range of circumstances.
If one of your workers gets injured at work, they can still make a claim, even if:
No one was at fault, their existing injury or a past condition was made worse by work.
They didn't report the injury straight away.
Nobody witnessed the incident
or it happened while they were traveling to or from work.
This gives you peace of mind so you can focus on what matters and supporting your worker to get back to work.
Your accident insurance policy also covers your business if a worker decides to make a common law claim for damages.
This is when a worker believes their injury or illness was due to employer negligence and they choose to take legal action.
This can involve engaging a lawyer and going to court. If this happens, having WorkCover as your insurer means our legal panel will represent you to help get a fair outcome for everyone involved.
We manage workers' compensation claims from start to finish right here in Queensland, so we are only ever a phone call away.
With your policy, you'll get access to online tools showing the injury trends for your business and industry.
This helps you manage claims and take early informed action to prevent future injuries which can keep your premium lower.
Behind the scenes, we make sure everyone pays their fair share in premiums based on their industry and claim rates.
This helps to keep our scheme balanced and sustainable for all Queensland businesses.
We invest in research and adhere to best practice to make sure employers and Queenslanders get the best value for money.
So if one of your workers is injured at work, reach out early to show you care.
Stay in touch with your worker if they decide to make a claim.
Be supportive and flexible during their recovery and keep providing a safe workplace for your workers.
Whatever work looks like in your world, we've got you covered so you can keep doing what you do best.
What’s covered?
This policy covers you if one of your workers experiences a work-related injury or illness and needs to claim workers’ compensation. This includes both no-fault statutory claims and damages (at-fault) claims. You can read more about these types of claim costs in the sections below.
Who is covered?
Your policy covers any workers you employ as defined in the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003. It covers workers employed by your business only. Any person you might hire to provide a service from another business is covered by their own employer.
If you’re a sole trader, partner in a partnership, director of your own company, or employed by a Trust where you're a trustee, you're not considered a worker so you’re not covered by your accident insurance policy. You can take out Workplace Personal Injury Insurance to cover you if you’d like to, but it’s not compulsory.
Will I have to pay an excess?
You’ll need to pay an excess if:
- your worker has taken time off from work due to their injury, and
- your worker‘s claim is accepted and they receive weekly compensation
In the case of a WorkCover claim, you’ll pay your excess to your injured worker as their first payment of weekly compensation.
We’ll let you know how much you need to pay. This will be based on the worker’s normal weekly earnings or award. You'll need to pay the excess within 10 business days of being notified. If you don't do this, we’ll pay the worker for you and then recover the excess from you, along with any penalty as set out under section 66(6) of the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003.
This excess will be whichever is less out of:
- 100% of Queensland full-time adult’s ordinary time earnings (QOTE), or
- the worker’s weekly compensation (in most cases this is 100% of the award or 85% of normal weekly earnings, whichever is greater).
Learn more about Calculating employer excess (PDF, 1.65 MB).
What else do I need to know?
Explore the sections below for more detailed information on what is covered and how to take out an Accident Insurance Policy.
Your accident insurance policy covers you and your worker for any work-related injury or illness a worker might experience.
There are many different types of injuries covered by your policy. They include:
- physical injuries, like lacerations, fractures, burns
- mental injuries
- injuries that happen over time, like industrial deafness
- injuries that take a long time to show symptoms, like silicosis
- aggravation of a pre-existing condition
- death from an injury or disease.
Injuries that happen travelling to or from work, while on a break from work, or while working interstate or overseas, may also be covered.
Employees might be covered while working from home, as long as their employment is a significant contributing factor to the injury.
WorkCover considers each case individually. If you have specific queries, call us on 1300 362 128.
If a claim is accepted, your accident insurance policy covers your worker’s:
- lost wages
- medical costs, for example doctor consultations, medication, x-rays
- hospital costs (public and private)
- rehabilitation costs like physiotherapy or return to work programs
- travel expenses relating to treatment or the claim
- lump sum payments
- death benefits and funeral expenses.
The only statutory claim cost you’ll have to pay is the excess as outlined above.
Common law claims happen when your injured worker sues you for damages by submitting a notice of claim. This is when they believe you were at fault in causing their injury.
Your accident insurance policy covers you for the full cost of any common law claim which can include your worker’s:
- past and future loss of income
- treatment and other medical, hospital and rehabilitation expenses
- legal costs
- pain and suffering.
Compensation is generally paid as a settlement to your worker to cover the above.
Your policy also covers your legal costs .
Taking out an Accident Insurance Policy with WorkCover only takes 5 – 15 minutes of your time. You can either apply for a policy online or call us on 1300 362 128.
Any authorised person from your business can set up a policy. This could be a director of the company, a finance officer, or your wife/husband if you're a sole trader.
If your workers are paid by a trust, we require the trustee's information as they’ll be the policyholder.
What information do I need to provide?
You’ll need the following information to apply for your policy:
- the date your employees will start working
- wages information from today until the end of the current financial year
- a short description of your business's primary business activity to establish your WorkCover industry classification (WIC)
- Australian Business Number (ABN) if you have one
- Australian Company Number (ACN) if you have one
- GST status and GST certificate if available
- Your workplace details, including the business or trading name and physical address.
Your certificate of currency confirms that you hold a current WorkCover Queensland policy.
The certificate shows your business entity's name, ABN/ACN (if you have them), and your period of insurance.
You can login to WorkCover Connect at any time to obtain your certificate of currency or call us on 1300 362 128 to get a copy.
We can only provide access to your own certificate of currency. If you'd like to see another employer's certificate, you'll need to request it from them.
If you no longer employ workers in Queensland, you can cancel your policy using WorkCover Connect or call us on 1300 362 128.
You'll need to know:
- the date you last employed a worker
- your actual wages for the financial year you stopped employing.
There is a minimum premium payable on all policies even if you do not employ.
The minimum premium amount is $200 per annum, pro-rata to $50 quarterly if you cancel your policy throughout the financial year.
For a quick rundown on your accident insurance policy, check out the simple video below. It explains the 'how, what and why' of workers' compensation in Queensland.