Guideline: Early intervention assistance

Purpose

To provide staff with information on how to claim for a minor work-related injury through the early intervention assistance scheme.

If you are a University staff member with a minor work-related injury, you can seek payment for treatment costs associated with your injury through Early Intervention Assistance (EIA), as an alternative to lodging a claim for workers' compensation.
The University acknowledges that an individual has a right to claim workers' compensation even for minor injuries, and any claim made under EIA does not prevent an employee from making a claim for workers’ compensation at a later date. Payment through EIA is an option that generally provides a more timely method of cost recovery for staff members with minor injuries who have already paid medical costs.

occurs at work;
is expected to resolve in a discrete period of time;
is not expected to cause ongoing symptoms, treatment or expenses;
requires no more than three visits to the doctor;
requires no further diagnostic testing than one x-ray, MRI, nerve conductivity test, ultrasound or CT scan;
requires para-medical treatments (such as physiotherapy, chiropractic etc) which are within the total cost limit; and
does not exceed a TOTAL COST of $1300 (not counting time off work).

Note. If total costs are likely to exceed $1300, then staff should consider claiming expenses through a workers' compensation claim.

report the injury/incident via the Figtree workplace safety incident & hazard reporting tool;
present a medical certificate from a qualified medical or treating practitioner, certifying any periods of time off work, state the nature of the medical condition and state how it is related to work;
complete the required documentation in the early intervention assistance pack; and
present receipts to substantiate their claim for payment.

Under this guideline, the University is not obliged to pay for costs associated with minor work-related injury.
The payment of expenses under this guideline does not imply that a claim for workers' compensation will be accepted. This is a separate process with specific legislative requirements.
The University only reimburses monies related to medical, treatment and diagnostic expenses.
The University may be requested to disclose EIA records to the University's worker’s compensation Claim Delegate, if a claim is later made, or other agencies and will do so in accordance with the law. Otherwise records are held in accordance with University policy on privacy and record keeping.

Information	Printable version (PDF)
Title	Early intervention assistance
Document Type	Guideline
Document Number	ANUP_000760
Version
Purpose	To provide staff with information on how to claim for a minor work-related injury.
Audience	Staff
Category	Administrative
Topic/ SubTopic	Health, Safety & Environment - Occupational Health & Safety

Effective Date	10 May 2022
Next Review Date	10 May 2027

Responsible Officer:	Chief People Officer
Approved By:	Chief People Officer
Contact Area	Safety and Wellbeing
Authority:	Work Health & Safety Act 2011
Delegations	0
Information generated and received by ANU staff in the course of conducting business on behalf of ANU is a record and should be captured by an authorised recordkeeping system. To learn more about University records and recordkeeping practice at ANU, see ANU recordkeeping and Policy: Records and archives management.