Edition 42, March 2007

Move to national training standards for workplace rehabilitation coordinators

Queensland's workers' compensation system is about to be strengthened by improving the training and accreditation of rehabilitation and return to work coordinators.

A Regulatory Impact Statement has been released outlining proposed amendments to the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Regulation 2003. These amendments will enable Queensland to adopt national training standards for coordinators.

Responsibility for the accreditation of the coordinators' course and training providers will be transferred from Q-COMP, Queensland's workers' compensation scheme regulator, to the vocational education and training sector.

Q-COMP will continue to oversee the development and auditing of the course content and retain responsibility for coordinator registration. However, the course will be delivered through registered training organisations. This will result in a significantly more effective and nationally-consistent training and accreditation system.

The amendments also propose that

  • coordinators must complete a recertification course every three years to keep their skills up to date, and
  • employers in high-risk industries must appoint a coordinator if they have an annual payroll of $1.5 million or more (i.e. currently 30 or more workers)

    Workplace injury and disease is a serious risk to the Queensland economy that costs around $4.7 billion annually. In Queensland, total payments for workers' compensation claims in 2005-06 were $814.4 million.

    Persons wishing to obtain copies of the Regulatory Impact Statement can do so by

    If you wish to comment on the statement, submissions can be submitted via email to whsqris@deir.qld.gov.au, online at www.deir.qld.gov.au, or by fax to (07) 3404 3550.

    The closing date for providing comments is 23 March 2007.

     

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