When a Worker Gets Hurt, Your Site Should Know What Happens Next
For employers, HR, WHS and site managers across NSW.
The first 48 hours after a workplace injury shape how the rest of the claim goes. WorkCover Hub runs toolbox talks and manager briefings built around your site, and publishes print-ready posters, checklists and wallet cards for the lunchroom and the supervisor.
Or call (02) 7238 7379. All organisations →
When a Worker Reports an Injury
How the process runs in NSW, from the first conversation to the return to work. This is general information about the scheme, not legal advice; your insurer is the authority on your policy.
The worker reports the injury
Make sure they get the care they need first. Then write down what happened, when and where, while it is fresh, and who saw it. A calm, clear first conversation sets the tone for everything after it.
Tell your insurer within 48 hours
In NSW the employer notifies its workers compensation insurer within 48 hours. The insurer's details are on your policy documents.
The worker sees a doctor
The SIRA Certificate of Capacity is completed by the treating doctor the worker nominates; the first certificate comes from a medical practitioner. It sets out the worker's capacity for work, and it is the document everyone else works from.
Provisional liability
Once notified, the insurer can start provisional weekly payments within 7 days, for up to 12 weeks, unless it has a reasonable excuse, and can cover early medical costs while liability is decided in full.
Suitable work and return to work
The certificate sets the limits. Where it shows capacity for some work, NSW employers have an obligation to provide suitable work within those limits. As the certificate changes, the duties change with it.
Source: State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA), sira.nsw.gov.au. WorkCover Hub is not affiliated with SIRA or icare. The manager's checklist puts these steps on one page.
What We Run on Site
Nothing arrives on a template. Tell us about your crew, your roster and the work, and the session is shaped to fit.
Crews and supervisors
Toolbox talks built around your site schedule
A short talk at the start of a shift or at the pre-start meeting: what to do in the first hour after an injury, who to tell, and what the Certificate of Capacity is for. Pitched at the work your crew actually does, and run when it suits the roster, not the other way round.
Managers and leading hands
Manager briefings
For the people a worker tells first. How the notification works, what the insurer needs, how suitable duties follow the certificate, and how to keep the first conversation supportive and factual. Built around the manager's checklist so the steps stay on the wall after the session ends.
HR and WHS teams
Sessions for HR
A working session on how the NSW process runs from report to return to work: provisional liability, certificates, and what the treating team needs from the workplace. Led by doctors across our network of providers alongside the people who handle certificates and insurer correspondence every day.
Materials for the Lunchroom and the Supervisor
Print-ready and written for the worker who reads them. Download, print on an office printer, or order printed copies for your site.
The Injuries We See in Your Industry
Every industry carries its own risks. These guides set out the injuries our doctors across the network see most often in each one, and how a claim runs from there.
What We Never Do
Working with your site changes nothing about a worker's rights or choices.
No inducements
We pay no one to send workers our way, and nothing we offer your organisation is conditional on where your workers are treated.
No one pays us to steer care
No employer or insurer pays us to direct a worker to a particular doctor, treatment or outcome.
The worker chooses their treating team
In NSW the worker nominates their own treating doctor. Our materials give them a number to call; they never make it the only one.
Aggregate reporting only
Anything we report back about sessions or materials is aggregate and de-identified. We never report on an individual worker to their employer.
Questions Employers Ask Us
If yours isn't here, call or write. Answering it is the point of this page.
Book a Toolbox Talk or Briefing
Tell us about your site, your crew and your roster, and we will come back to you to shape the session.
Tell us about your site
Put the First 48 Hours on the Wall Before You Need Them
Book a toolbox talk, order printed materials for your site, or call with the workplace injury question your team is stuck on.
Call (02) 7238 7379