Seafarers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1992 – Guide to the Assessment of the Degree of Permanent Impairment Edition 3.0
Sch 1Guide to the Assessment of the Degree of Permanent Impairment Edition 3.0
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Schedule Sch 1 - Seafarers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1992 – Guide to the Assessment of the Degree of Permanent Impairment Edition 3.0 - Guide to the Assessment of the Degree of Permanent Impairment Edition 3.0 | Zoe
1 Division 1 is used to assess the degree of the permanent impairment of an employee resulting from an injury.
2 Division 2 is used to assess the degree of non-economic loss suffered by an employee as a result of an injury or impairment.
3 Division 3 is used to calculate the total entitlement to compensation for permanent impairment and non-economic loss based on the assessments completed in Divisions 1 and 2.
4 Appendix 1 is used to obtain the combined value of multiple impairments resulting from a single injury where combination is required.
5 The Principles of Assessment and Glossary contain information relevant to the interpretation and application of Divisions 1 and 2.
APPLICATION OF THIS GUIDE
6 This Guide (including the Principles of Assessment and Glossary) applies to the assessment or re-assessment of the degree of permanent impairment or non-economic loss of an employee relating to all claims and requests under sections 39, 40 and 41 of the Seafarers Act received by the employer on or after the commencement date and to the review by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal of any such assessment or re-assessment. See sections 2 and 6 of the instrument titled Seafarers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1992 – Guide to the Assessment of the Degree of Permanent Impairment Edition 3.0 for when this Guide applies to a particular assessment, reassessment or review.
7 See Edition 2.1 of the Guide (now repealed) for the criteria, methods and application provisions relevant to the assessment or reassessment of the degree of permanent impairment or non-economic loss of an employee relating to claims and requests under sections 39, 40 and 41 of the Seafarers Act that were received by the employer prior to the commencement date. Edition 2.1 of the Guide can be accessed via the Federal Register of Legislation here: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2012C00534.
WHOLE PERSON IMPAIRMENT
8 Prior to 1993, the Seamen’s Compensation Act 1911 (repealed by the Seafarers Rehabilitation and Compensation (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 1992) provided for the payment of lump sum compensation where a seaman suffered the loss of, or loss of efficient use of, a part of the body or faculty, as specified in a table of maims. The range of conditions compensated was exclusive and did not reflect the broad range of work- related conditions.
9 This Guide, like the previous editions, is, for the purposes of expressing the degree of impairment as a percentage, based on the concept of ‘whole person impairment’. Subsection 39(5) of the Seafarers Act provides for the determination of the degree of permanent impairment of the employee resulting from an injury, that is, the employee as a whole person. The whole person impairment concept, therefore, provides for compensation for the permanent impairment of any body part, system or function to the extent to which it permanently impairs the employee as a whole person.
10 Paragraph 42(1)(a) of the Seafarers Act provides that the Guide may set out criteria by reference to which the degree of the permanent impairment of an employee resulting from an injury shall be determined. Paragraph 42(1)(c) of the Act relevantly provides that methods by which the degree of permanent impairment, as determined under those criteria, shall be expressed as a percentage. Subsection 42(5) of the Act relevantly provides that the percentage of permanent impairment suffered by an employee as a result of an injury ascertained under the methods referred to in paragraph 42(1)(c) may be 0%.
11 Whole person impairment is the methodology used in this Guide in accordance with section 42 of the Seafarers Act and is therefore the methodology by which the degree of permanent impairment of an employee resulting from an injury is expressed as a percentage. While the employee’s impairment resulting from a particular injury is to be assessed against criteria in this Guide by reference to the functional capacities of a normal healthy person, the degree of permanent impairment of that employee resulting from that particular injury may be assessed as:
a) 0% if there is no increase in the employee’s whole person impairment when assessed in accordance with this Guide; or
b) less than the threshold for compensation under section 39 of the Act even if there is an increase in the employee’s whole person impairment when assessed in accordance with this Guide.