Injuries we cover

Types of injury or illness

Physical injuries

This means ‘damage to the body from an external force’, such as:

• cuts and scrapes
• burns
• penetrating wounds
• strains
• broken bones.

These can range from mild to very serious.

Mental injuries

These are conditions that cause changes in thinking, emotions or behaviour, such as:

• depression
• anxiety
• post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Sometimes also called psychological or psychiatric injuries.

Diseases and illnesses

These are usually caused by infection or exposure at work, such as:

• diseases you can catch while doing your job (like Q-fever)
• industrial deafness
• respiratory diseases (like asbestosis and silicosis).

Aggravated injuries

These happen when your job makes a pre-existing injury worse. It’s okay if the original injury wasn’t caused by work.

Ongoing symptoms

If you’ve had a claim with us before and have ongoing or recurrent symptoms after your claim was closed, contact us. We’re here to help.

Critical and fatal injuries

These are injuries that can cause permanent damage, impairment or death.

Find out more:

• Critical injuries.
• Claiming when someone dies at work.

Injuries away from your usual workplace

If you’re injured away from your usual workplace, you may be covered. Find out more.

Significant contributing factor

‘Significant contributing factor’ means your work was a part of what caused your injury.

This could be because of:

• something that happened at work  
• the type of work you do
• your working conditions.

Your work doesn’t need to be the only cause of your injury, but it does need to be a significant one.

You can find the full definition of significant contributing factor in our glossary.