Can you claim compensation if you are injured while dealing with agricultural work?
While all of the production activities require the workforce, the biggest problem faced by the workforce is the issue of occupational health and safety. Because each field of activity carries different risks and requires different occupational health and safety measures and different training programs depending on it.
Despite the continuous efforts to protect the workforce, the occupational health and safety problem, including in developed countries, has still not been resolved, and work accidents and occupational diseases have not been prevented. Today, occupational accidents and occupational diseases, which concern employees, employers and society in many ways, result in a large number of deaths, injuries and material damage. A significant part of the death, injury and property damage is experienced in the agricultural sector.
Today, 1.3 billion of the approximately 3.3 billion people working in the world work in the agricultural sector. In this segment, which is faced with work accidents and occupational diseases, accident rates are at the top of the list, along with the mining and construction business. (If you want more detailed information on the subject, you can find it here.)
This situation is not only in question for developing countries, but also continues to be an important problem for developed countries.
Accidents in the agricultural business can be caused by a number of things.
- problems arising from agriculture’s nature,
- the seasonality of agricultural enterprises, the sequencing of certain works, the intensity of the works and their reliance on time, the work being done in the open, the change with the seasons, the effect of meteorological conditions, the need for timely work,
- the inability to arrange work and relaxation periods, as well as repeated job changes by the same individual,
- issues brought on by herbal powders and allergic fungus,
- the effects of a wide range of herbicides and fertilisers on the respiratory and skin systems,
- the need to alter eating habits because of a shift in the job,
- Getting away from health-monitoring,
- alterations in working practises (machine or manual operation),
- disregarding occupational health and safety rules and legislation in small firms,
- using low-skilled labour,
- child labour and a lack of education.
Is it possible to claim compensation if you are injured in the agricultural sector in Australia?
Yes, you may be eligible to compensation for your injuries if you were injured in an agricultural working accident. Benefits for farm accident injury compensation are covered through workers’ compensation
If you are injured at work or a dependant person dies as a consequence of a work accident, you may be entitled to compensation. Call workers compensation lawyers in Sydney if you’ve been injured on the job and want to know what you can do about the circumstances of the accident. It will be much easier for you to anticipate the next stages if you do so.
If you were injured in a farm accident or contracted a disease, you may be eligible to the following workers compensation benefits:
- Medical expenses
costs of immediate and ongoing treatment costs by a doctor, physiotherapist, psychologist, and so on.
- Weekly payments
calculated according to your capacity for work and average earnings
- Lump sum payment
if you are a “non-exempt worker” and your whole person impairment for your physical injuries, are assessed at being greater than 10% or 14% for psychological injuries; or you are an exempt worker and your whole person impairment for your physical injuries are greater than 0%.
- Domestic assistance
if your whole person impairment is assessed at being at least 15%.
- Common law
if your whole person impairment is assessed at being at least 15% and your employer was negligent.
You may also be entitled to motor vehicle accident compensation if you are injured while driving a tractor or forklift. For detailed information about this, please contact car accident lawyers.
What steps should you take to claim compensation?
You must first tell your employer about the accident before beginning the workers compensation claim process. Then go to your primary care physician and request a Certificate of Capacity. Following that, you must fill out a Workers’ Injury Claim Form, make copies of the Certificate of Capacity and Work Injury Claim Form for your records, and return the originals to your employer.
Your employer will fill out their portion of the paperwork and send both documents to their workers compensation insurance provider. Within seven days after receiving your claim form, the insurance company will contact you.
If your claim is granted, you will be awarded weekly compensation payments as well as reimbursement for reasonable expenses (if your injury prevents you from working). You will not be compensated if your claim is denied, and the insurer will explain why. You can ask for the insurer’s decision to be revisited if you disagree with it.
