Struck by object injury workers compensation NSW

Struck by object injury can occur through an item falls from shelving, racking, a vehicle, platform or work above and a suspended load, pipe, gate, panel or tool swings into a worker. 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 warehouse, construction, manufacturing and maintenance workers below or beside stored or moved materials and doggers, riggers, tradespeople and workers around cranes, hoists, conveyors or powered tools. Employment records should identify each person's task, employer and position in the work area when the incident occurred.

Medical records after a struck by object injury may identify head injury, concussion, skull or facial fracture and neck, shoulder, spinal or rib injury from impact or being knocked over. Each diagnosis should be linked to the event or exposure and to the worker's actual functional change.

For a struck by object injury, the first evidence to preserve includes storage, racking, lifting or load-restraint plan relevant to the object and inspection, maintenance and defect records for the shelf, attachment, tool, plant or restraint. It is most useful when dates, people, equipment, duties and later medical histories tell a consistent account.

• Work order, delivery record, lift plan or SWMS explaining why the object was being moved.
• PPE issue records and the damaged helmet, eyewear or clothing where relevant.
• Early clinical records documenting the impact site, loss of consciousness and all injured body parts.

After a struck by object injury, an insurer may dispute whether the object struck the worker, its weight or travel path and whether the event was reported promptly and whether later concussion, spinal, neurological or psychological symptoms follow from the accepted impact. The written decision should be answered with evidence directed to those stated reasons.

Immediate care depends on the impact and may include emergency assessment, imaging, fracture care or observation for head injury. Persistent symptoms may require body-part-specific specialist review rather than a generic soft-tissue treatment plan. If treatment is disputed after a struck by object injury, the request should explain the accepted diagnosis, expected functional benefit and reasonable alternatives.

Work capacity after a struck by object injury may turn on capacity may be affected by lifting, overhead work, balance, concentration, driving, noise or working beneath stored or suspended materials and the work environment matters when dizziness, post-concussion symptoms or fear associated with a serious event affects safe attendance. Proposed duties must be compared with the real task demands and the worker's ability to sustain them for the proposed hours.

WPI is assessed from the stable accepted diagnosis for each affected body system, not from the object’s weight or the dramatic nature of the event. Head, spinal, upper-limb, lower-limb and primary psychiatric impairments use different NSW methods and are not assumed from symptoms alone. Any WPI assessment after a struck by object injury occurs after stabilisation under the NSW method for the accepted body system; the accident or surgery alone does not determine a percentage.

A defective product, negligent non-employer contractor or occupier may raise a separate recovery issue requiring individual investigation. A motor accident pathway is not created merely because an object fell from a vehicle; the statutory motor-accident definition must be considered. These issues are separate from workers compensation and depend on the particular facts.

For a struck by object injury, assistance may involve preserve the object, scene and time-sensitive CCTV or lifting records and identify every body part and diagnosis rather than accepting an incomplete generic injury description. The purpose is to identify the disputed decision and the evidence needed for the next step, not to promise an outcome.