Crush injury at work workers compensation NSW

Crush injury at work can occur through a press, gate, ram, clamp, roller or attachment closes unexpectedly and stored hydraulic, pneumatic, gravitational or mechanical energy is released. The incident history should identify the task, equipment, location and sequence of events rather than relying on the job title alone.

People commonly exposed include machine operators, process workers and packers and maintenance, cleaning and fault-response workers. Employment records should identify each person's task, employer and position in the work area when the incident occurred.

Medical records after a crush injury at work may identify hand, finger, foot and limb crush injury and fracture, tendon, nerve, vascular and compartment injury. Each diagnosis should be linked to the event or exposure and to the worker's actual functional change.

For a crush injury at work, the first evidence to preserve includes machine and trapping-point photographs or diagrams after safe isolation and guarding, interlock, emergency stop and control-system records. It is most useful when dates, people, equipment, duties and later medical histories tell a consistent account.

• Lockout, isolation and stored-energy procedures.
• Maintenance, fault, production and prior incident records.
• CCTV, witness accounts and measurements of the movement.
• Hospital, surgical, hand therapy, rehabilitation and capacity evidence.

After a crush injury at work, an insurer may dispute the accepted injury is limited to a wound and omits nerve, tendon or complex consequences and the mechanism is disputed because the machine was reset before inspection. The written decision should be answered with evidence directed to those stated reasons.

Urgent care may involve vascular, crush, fracture, wound, tendon, nerve or compartment assessment. Long-term treatment may include surgery, hand therapy, scar, pain, prosthetic, rehabilitation or psychological care. If treatment is disputed after a crush injury at work, the request should explain the accepted diagnosis, expected functional benefit and reasonable alternatives.

Work capacity after a crush injury at work may turn on grip, sensation, dexterity, standing, lifting and safe machine control may be affected and production roles can remain unsuitable even when described as light because of pace and hazard exposure. Proposed duties must be compared with the real task demands and the worker's ability to sustain them for the proposed hours.

Stable limb, digit, nerve, scarring, amputation or psychological impairment may require separate NSW methods. Crush severity and surgery do not by themselves set WPI. Any WPI assessment after a crush injury at work occurs after stabilisation under the NSW method for the accepted body system; the accident or surgery alone does not determine a percentage.

A manufacturer, host business or maintenance contractor may raise another recovery issue. TPD insurance may be separate and relevant to lasting total incapacity. These issues are separate from workers compensation and depend on the particular facts.

For a crush injury at work, assistance may involve identify the trapping surfaces and energy source and preserve controls, fault and maintenance evidence. The purpose is to identify the disputed decision and the evidence needed for the next step, not to promise an outcome.