Traumatic event at work: NSW workers compensation guide

Traumatic event at work can occur through witnessing a serious accident, violent act, fire, explosion or motor crash and encountering 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 workers directly present at a serious incident and workers required to respond, investigate or provide immediate assistance. Employment records should identify each person's task, employer and position in the work area when the incident occurred.

Medical records after a traumatic event at work may identify a diagnosed primary psychological injury and physical injury sustained during the incident or response. Each diagnosis should be linked to the event or exposure and to the worker's actual functional change.

After a traumatic event at work, immediate reporting and safety records may include incident, emergency and scene attendance report and police, ambulance, fire or SafeWork reference. These records can establish what was known at the time without requiring the worker to repeatedly recount a traumatic event.

• Roster, task, dispatch and witness records.
• CCTV, radio, body-camera or communications preservation.

For a traumatic event at work, the first evidence to preserve includes what the worker directly witnessed or encountered and the seriousness and immediate scene circumstances. It is most useful when dates, people, equipment, duties and later medical histories tell a consistent account.

• Employer debrief, support and follow-up records.
• Medical and psychological treatment evidence.

Medical and psychological evidence after a traumatic event at work may include diagnosis, onset and functional effect documented by treating practitioners and physical injury evidence where applicable. A diagnosis alone may not answer causation or capacity: the records should explain the work event, symptoms, treatment and practical restrictions.

• Capacity certificate addressing scene, role and trigger exposure.
• Treatment and any attempted return records.

After a traumatic event at work, an insurer may dispute the event is said not to meet the traumatic-incident definition and the worker learned of the event later rather than witnessing it. The written decision should be answered with evidence directed to those stated reasons.

Diagnosis, onset and functional effect documented by treating practitioners. Physical injury evidence where applicable. If treatment is disputed after a traumatic event at work, the request should explain the accepted diagnosis, expected functional benefit and reasonable alternatives.

Work capacity after a traumatic event at work may turn on ability to return to the same scene, role or emergency tasks and night shift, driving, concentration, alarms and trigger exposure. 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 traumatic event 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 traumatic event 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.