Personal Accident - Cover

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Cover

The Fund provides no-fault personal accident cover to participating entities for people who are not covered under the Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 where that person (or category of persons) has been afforded cover by the Fund prior to the incident giving rise to the claim and they: This includes nominated participating entity volunteers, board members, Parliamentarians and students involved in workplace learning. Further information in relation to each of these approved categories is provided below.

See:
Volunteers
Parliamentarians
External board members
Students involved in Workplace Learning
Other persons who may be covered

Generally, people that are covered by the Fund for personal accident are under direct participant control. The indicative factors evidencing the presence of control are:
  • the individual/group being appointed directly by the participant;
  • the existence of a high level of participant supervision over the activities of the individual or group; and
  • the participant having the power to dismiss the individual or group.

Volunteers
The Fund provides personal accident cover to persons who are acting in the capacity of a volunteer provided the control test referred to above is met.

A risk assessment of volunteer tasks should be undertaken to ensure that the proposed activity is appropriate, and that the volunteer has the ability and capacity to undertake the tasks in a safe manner. Subject to such a risk assessment being conducted, there is no age limit on personal accident cover provided to volunteers.
    Note: Personal accident cover does not apply to volunteers deemed to be workers for the purposes of the Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988. Refer to the section on Workers' Compensation - Cover for further information.
See Volunteer Guidelines for information on volunteer management.

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Parliamentarians

​The Fund provides personal accident cover to Ministers and Members of the Tasmanian Parliament if they:

  • suffer or aggravate an injury which arises out of, and in the course of, their official parliamentary duties; or
  • contract a disease for which their official parliamentary duties was the major contributor.

External board members
External board members (ie non participant employees) participating on boards, committees or commissions for whom agency-related entity approval has been given (see Part C of Entities covered by the Fund) are provided with personal accident cover provided their employer's workers compensation does not provide cover.

Students involved in Workplace Learning
Government schools and colleges

The Fund provides personal accident cover for students if they are enrolled at a government school or college when participating in:
  • school-initiated workplace learning activities​, provided that the student is placed with a Department of Education approved business in Tasmania or interstate; or
  • Department of Education approved workplace learning activities as part of a Vocational Education and Training (VET) course; or
  • Department of Education approved Special and Alternative Learning Programs.

Students participating in regular school activities including excursions, school camps, after-hours school sports etc (other than for school-initiated workplace learning activities, workplace learning activities as part of a VET course and Special and Alternative Learning Programs) are not covered in respect of personal accident.

TasTAFE

The Fund provides personal accident cover for students if they are enrolled at TasTAFE when participating in work placements approved by that entity.

Students participating in regular school activities including classroom work, workshops etc are not covered in respect of personal accident.

Other persons who may be covered

Where there is no employment relationship between a participating entity and a person but the circumstances are such that the entity wishes to offer the person cover for no-fault personal injury, the Fund may provide personal accident cover. In these circumstances, the entity must discuss the matter with Treasury to determine whether cover will be extended. Direct control will generally be required and may be subject to specific conditions or requirements.

As an example, persons approved for cover for personal accident include:

  • young offenders subject to community service orders issued pursuant to the Youth Justice Act 1997 and offenders undertaking community work for failure to comply with a drug treatment order issued pursuant to section 27B of the Sentencing Act 1997;
  • refugees placed with a participating entity under the State Service Work Placement Program;
  • young people undertaking work as part of a formal police caution under the Youth Justice Act 1997; and
  • residents of the Ashley Youth Detention Centre when undertaking approved off-site activities.
    • [Note: details on the conditions upon which cover is provided in relation to any of these examples should be sought in the first instance from the relevant agency and/or the Fund.]
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Exclusions

Personal accident cover is not provided in circumstances where workers' compensation would not apply to an employee in the same circumstances. For further information refer to Workers' Compensation - Cover.

In addition, the Fund will not respond in circumstances where a person:
  • acts outside the scope of the activities authorised by the participant, or contrary to its instructions; or
  • is affected by alcohol or certain other drugs at the time of the incident; or
  • is involved in a motor vehicle accident; or
  • the personal injury occurs during time off - even if this has been sanctioned by a relevant officer or authorised representative.
Specific categories of persons to whom personal accident is not extended are detailed below.

Home educated students

The Fund does not provide personal accident cover for students registered with the Office of the Education Registrar (OER) when participating in VET workplace learning activities.

Students from Non-government schools

Students enrolled in non-government schools are not covered by the Fund and need to be insured by the schools in which they are enrolled.

Students from the University of Tasmania

Students from the University of Tasmania are not covered by the Fund when on work experience with a participating entity as part of their course. Students from the University should be asked to provide the participating entity with evidence that they are covered by the University's personal accident insurance policy prior to commencement.


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