Witnessing serious injury or death at work: NSW workers compensation guide

Witnessing serious injury or death at work can occur through seeing the serious incident happen and seeing a deceased or seriously injured person at the scene. 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 coworkers present when a serious or fatal incident occurs and workers arriving at the immediate scene as part of their duties. Employment records should identify each person's task, employer and position in the work area when the incident occurred.

Medical records after a witnessing serious injury or death at work may identify primary psychological injury including PTSD, anxiety, depression or adjustment disorder where diagnosed and physical injury sustained during response or escape. Each diagnosis should be linked to the event or exposure and to the worker's actual functional change.

After a witnessing serious injury or death at work, immediate reporting and safety records may include emergency, police, SafeWork and employer incident references and roster, location, dispatch and witness records. These records can establish what was known at the time without requiring the worker to repeatedly recount a traumatic event.

• CCTV, radio, access and scene-log preservation.
• Debrief, welfare contact and contemporaneous medical attendance.

For a witnessing serious injury or death at work, the first evidence to preserve includes clear account of what was directly witnessed and scene timing and the worker’s assigned role. It is most useful when dates, people, equipment, duties and later medical histories tell a consistent account.

• Subsequent symptoms, treatment and functional changes.
• Insurer decision identifying the part of witnessing or causation disputed.

Medical and psychological evidence after a witnessing serious injury or death at work may include GP and psychiatric evidence identifying diagnosis and onset and capacity certificate addressing scene, role and triggers. A diagnosis alone may not answer causation or capacity: the records should explain the work event, symptoms, treatment and practical restrictions.

• Treatment, medication and return-to-work history.
• Functional evidence rather than diagnosis alone.

After a witnessing serious injury or death at work, an insurer may dispute the worker is said not to have directly witnessed the incident or scene and the incident seriousness is disputed. The written decision should be answered with evidence directed to those stated reasons.

GP and psychiatric evidence identifying diagnosis and onset. Capacity certificate addressing scene, role and triggers. If treatment is disputed after a witnessing serious injury or death at work, the request should explain the accepted diagnosis, expected functional benefit and reasonable alternatives.

Work capacity after a witnessing serious injury or death at work may turn on return to the scene, same plant, shift or work group and alarms, similar tasks, emergency duties and contact with witnesses. Proposed duties must be compared with the real task demands and the worker's ability to sustain them for the proposed hours.

A lasting physical injury is assessed under the NSW method for the affected body system only after the condition is sufficiently stable. The event label does not predict a WPI percentage. Primary psychological impairment is assessed separately under the NSW psychiatric impairment method when the condition is permanent and the legal pathway is established. Diagnosis alone does not determine WPI. Any WPI assessment after a witnessing serious injury or death 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 primary psychological injury is the psychological condition said to arise directly from workplace events. For claims first notified on or after 1 July 2026, the event must fit a relevant-event category and satisfy the additional connection and causation requirements. A secondary psychological injury arises as a consequence of a physical injury, for example depression associated with pain, surgery or loss of mobility after an assault injury. The 2026 primary-injury reforms do not apply to secondary psychological injuries in the same way. The distinction depends on medical causation and the accepted injury history, not simply on which symptoms were noticed first.

A police, SafeWork, workplace, discrimination, Fair Work or protective-order process may exist alongside workers compensation. Those processes have different purposes and do not decide workers compensation automatically. A civil, victims-support or other claim may require separate advice depending on the person involved and circumstances. It should not be described as part of workers compensation without checking eligibility. These issues are separate from workers compensation and depend on the particular facts.

For a witnessing serious injury or death at work, assistance may involve identify the event category, incident date and claim pathway before responding to an insurer and organise incident, safety, medical, psychological and capacity evidence without circulating unnecessary private material. The purpose is to identify the disputed decision and the evidence needed for the next step, not to promise an outcome.