Administrative and scheme delivery changes

Best Practice Guidelines for Mediators

The Return to Work Act 1986 (the Act) provides a dispute resolution process whereby a claimant is aggrieved by the decision of an employer:

• to dispute liability for compensation claimed by the claimant
• to cancel or reduce compensation being paid to the claimant, or
• relating to a matter or question incidental to or arising out of the claimant's claim for compensation.

The Minister appoints mediators to promote the resolution of disputes between claimants, employers and employers' insurers and the Act infers powers on the mediator.

NT WorkSafe has a legislative role in dispute resolution to provide a mediation service and has developed the ‘Best Practice Guidelines for Mediators’ to provide guidance for appointed mediators pertaining to their legislative obligations. 

Evaluation of permanent impairment

Pursuant to section 70 of the Act, the NT implemented the NT Guidelines for the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (the NT Guidelines) to be used to evaluate permanent impairment arising from work-related injuries/diseases for NT workers within the context of workers’ compensation.  The Guidelines are based on the National Guidelines for the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (National Guide Template) that was developed through a national process facilitated by Safe Work Australia with NT variations.

Safe Work Australia contracted Jim Stewart Consulting Pty Ltd to review issues raised with the regard to the National Guide Template. On 28 October 2023, a review report was released providing recommended wording to resolve the identified issues.

NT WorkSafe are currently reviewing the NT Guidelines to include the recommended changes provided in the report.

Policy developments

The NT has commenced the following:

• Provision of guidance and recommendations to improve support for seriously injured workers and families affected by a workplace fatality.
  NT WorkSafe acknowledges that along with the wider impact on workers with serious injury, there is significant ongoing impacts on friends and family associated with workplace injuries and fatalities. We are committed to assisting injured workers, friends and family who have been affected by workplace injuries or fatalities.
• A project to improve return to work data to identify return to work outcomes for injured workers in the Northern Territory.
• A project to identify data sources available to locate employers who do not hold a current workers compensation policy but should.
• Review into the ‘Workers Compensation Best Practice Guidelines for Approved Insurers and Self-Insurers in the Northern Territory’ which must be followed by approved insurers/self-insurers.

Legislative amendments

There were no legislative changes to the Act and the Return to Work Regulations 1986 in the reporting period, namely 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2023. NT WorkSafe are currently reviewing the following for inclusion/exclusion in the legislation:

Presumptive legislation for firefighters

The Northern Territory introduced presumptive legislation for firefighters on 1 July 2015. The legislation covered 12 diseases. Section 50A of the Return to Work Act 1986 (NT Act) provides the eligibility of firefighter for compensation for prescribed disease. The diseases and qualifying periods are prescribed in the Return to Work Regulations 1986 (the Regulations), Regulation 5B. An additional 4 diseases were prescribed in the Regulations on 29 July 2020 taking the total to 16.

NT WorkSafe are currently considering 6 additional disease that have been identified through a large number of published studies which would potentially include:

Deemed diseases

Deemed diseases are provided in the Return to Work Regulations 1986, Schedule 2.

Safe Work Australia (SWA) engaged Dr Tim Driscoll to lead the Review of the 2015 Deemed Diseases in Australia Report (the Report) being published by Safe Work Australia 17 December 2021.

The Report identified the inclusion of 12 disease to be added to the Deemed diseases list and one to be removed. One of the diseases identified was Post-traumatic stress disorder which is already included in Schedule 2.

The Report recommended that it would be appropriate to conduct a review in approximately 2 years based on newly published evidence particularly pertaining to the issues associated with COVID-19.

NT WorkSafe are currently considering the addition of 11 additional diseases identified in the Report and the removal of Parkinson’s disease as recommended, however, given the timeframe since the Report, may delay progressing this until the 2 year review is finalised.