Work-related injury or illness - first steps

If a work-related injury or illness happens, there are certain steps that must be taken straight away.

If you’re a worker:

• See your doctor or go to the hospital immediately for initial treatment.
• Get a work capacity certificate from your treating doctor. Make sure all injuries that you want assessed are included.
• Let your employer know what has happened as soon as you can and give them your work capacity certificate.
• Make a claim with your insurer (WorkCover Queensland, or talk to your employer if they are self-insured). Your insurer will need a copy of your work capacity certificate as they can provide support from the date your doctor first assessed your injury.
• Begin rehabilitation as soon as you can, as this will help your recovery. Your employer is obligated to help you with this.

If you’re an employer:

• Make contact with your worker as early as possible after the injury.
• Let your insurer (WorkCover Queensland or your self-insurer) know the injury has happened. Find out why you need to do this.
• Report the injury within 8 business days of becoming aware of it or of your insurer requesting the information from you. You must report the injury to your insurer even if your worker doesn’t make a claim and even if you don’t agree the injury may be eligible for compensation. More information on how to report an injury can be found on the make a claim page.
• Start planning your worker’s return to work with them.
• In some instances you may have to notify Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) of the incident. First, you'll need to confirm whether the incident is notifiable.