First Responders Win PTSD Battle in Queensland
Queensland Parliament has passed legislation providing presumptive workers' compensation for first responders and mine workers diagnosed with PTSD.
A Bill that provides presumptive workers’ compensation to first responders and certain mine workers that are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder has passed Queensland Parliament.
The changes to State Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020, mean that a first responder’s PTSD will automatically be presumed to be work-related unless and until the worker’s employer is able to establish otherwise.
Workers can therefore get immediate treatment and benefits under the workers’ compensation scheme.
Industrial Relations Minister Grace Grace said that first responders were exposed daily to traumatic incidents that most people could never imagine and the changes provided a smoother pathway to compensation and support.
“This provides these workers with dignity when they most need it, overcomes barriers to making a claim, and provides a safety net for people who put their health at risk every day to help others,” Ms Grace said.
“This is also a win for the families of first responders, whose rate of mental health conditions is 10 times higher than the Australian workforce generally.”
“It will also go a long way to reducing the stigma first responders have about the impact of a claim on their job prospects, or how they are perceived in their workplace.”
The changes will apply to thousands of frontline first responders including:
- police officers, ambulance officers and paramedics
- firefighters including volunteers and rural fire brigade
- State Emergency Service members
- corrective service officers
- authorised officers within child safety, youth justice staff members
- doctors and nurses working in certain areas such as emergency and trauma care and acute care
- local government and private sector workers performing the same roles, such as paramedics working in the not-for-profit sector or in mines rescue teams
- departmental employees who are exposed to traumatic incidents such as fire communications officers or emergency medical dispatchers.