Maurice Blackburn

Maurice Blackburn backs Ombudsman's report to improve Worksafe's care of injured workers

Maurice Blackburn Lawyers today welcomed recommendations by the Victorian Ombudsman to immediately improve record keeping and provide better support to injured workers who have claims for workers compensation.

Principal John Salanitri said many workers who were injured on the job were later forced to endure unnecessary stress when making a WorkSafe claim. He said it wasn't surprising there had been steady increase in complaints against the authority during the past six years. 

"The Ombudsman found WorkSafe had inadequate record keeping on client files and in one particular incident a worker was ignored and was shuffled from one case manager to another without any consultation," Mr Salanitri said.

"Many Maurice Blackburn clients have experienced similar issues when making a claim and at times have been ignored by WorkSafe agents.

"Other clients were let down by poor or delayed decision making, increasing the time before a claim can by processed adding financial stress if expensive medical procedures are required.

"There have also been examples of Maurice Blackburn clients being forced to repeatedly send medical documentation or claim forms because their file information was not stored correctly.

"Injured workers want to be able to recover and concentrate on returning to work.

"It is unfair for workers to endure the extra burden of poor customer service and delayed decision making when their focus should be returning to health.

"Maurice Blackburn welcomes the decision by WorkSafe to adopt all of the Ombudsman's recommendations to improve the standard of care given to injured workers."

Maurice Blackburn manages hundreds of work injury claims every year across all sectors and occupational groups.