Prolonged standing or walking at work: NSW workers compensation guide

Continuous standing blocks, total walking distance or step data and rest opportunities. Floor surface, gradients, stairs, footwear and load carried. The task history should quantify force, weight, repetition, duration, posture or exposure rather than rely on a label such as “overuse”.

Retail, hospitality, security and production workers at fixed stations. Nurses, carers, cleaners and order pickers walking between tasks. Rosters and role records can identify who performed or observed the same work cycle.

Plantar fasciitis. Foot injury. A symptom label does not replace a diagnosis or a reasoned opinion linking that diagnosis to the measured work history.

Rosters, break records and workstation allocation. Pedometer, route, scan or ward records where reliably available. Early records should show when symptoms began, changed and were reported, even where there was no single accident date.

• Floor and footwear information and requests for seating or rotation.

Rosters, break records and workstation allocation. Pedometer, route, scan or ward records where reliably available. The strongest task history connects objective work records with the symptom and treatment chronology.

• Floor and footwear information and requests for seating or rotation.
• Clinical and workplace reports showing when tolerance reduced.

Diagnosis based on examination and appropriate investigation, not standing history alone. Timeline of symptoms during shifts, recovery on days off and progression over time. Medical causation evidence should address the diagnosis, measured work exposure, pre-existing conditions and relevant non-work factors.

• Assessment of body weight, footwear, sport, anatomy and prior lower-limb conditions where relevant.

The role allowed sitting or task rotation. Walking records do not support the distance alleged. The insurer’s written reasons should be answered with evidence directed to the actual causation or eligibility issue.

Treatment should target the diagnosed foot, knee or hip condition and practical load tolerance. Footwear or workstation changes may be relevant but do not replace medical evidence. Treatment and restrictions should be tied to the accepted diagnosis and the work factor that needs to be reduced or avoided.

Certificates may need standing and walking limits, rest frequency, surface and stair restrictions. Capacity should be assessed over the proposed shift rather than by a short clinic walk. Sustainable capacity depends on the complete shift and repeated exposure, not whether one movement can be demonstrated once.

Standing tolerance alone is not WPI. A stable accepted lower-limb diagnosis must be assessed under its specific NSW method. The assessment must follow the method for the accepted diagnosis, such as Plantar fasciitis, Foot injury, Knee arthritis aggravation. WPI is assessed after stabilisation using the NSW method for the accepted diagnosis; exposure duration or pain alone does not set a percentage.

Long-term incapacity may justify separate TPD policy advice, but it is not part of workers compensation. Any employer-negligence, TPD, CTP, dust-disease or other pathway is separate and depends on its own facts and eligibility rules. Any other compensation or insurance pathway remains separate and has its own eligibility rules.

Organise a task-by-task exposure chronology with weights, repetitions, duration, posture, equipment or contaminant details. Compare the insurer’s written reasons with the medical diagnosis, prior history and contemporaneous workplace records. The purpose is to match the disputed decision to reliable work and medical evidence, not to promise an outcome.