Policy information

How to start a new policy with HEM

If you would like information on starting a new policy with HEM, please contact a member of our Underwriting team on 02 8251 9069.

Policy renewals

Completion of renewal documentation can be a complex process. Our experienced Underwriting staff will provide you with assistance to ensure that this process is as simple as possible.

Cover provided

What the Insurer is liable for

  1. The Insurer will indemnify the Employer against all of the following sums for which the Employer becomes liable during or in respect of the period of insurance:
    1. compensation that the Employer becomes liable to pay under the Act to or in respect of any person who is a worker of the Employer (including any person to whom the Employer is liable under section 20 of the Act);
    2. any other amount that the Employer becomes liable to pay independently of the Act (but not including a liability for compensation in the nature of workers compensation arising under any Act or other law of another State, a Territory or the Commonwealth or a liability arising under law of another country) for any injury to any such person (not including liability in respect of an injury, suffered by a person other than such a worker, arising out of any rescue or attempted rescue);
    3. costs and expenses incurred with the written consent of the Insurer in connection with the defence of any legal proceeding in which any such liability is alleged.

Businesses and industrial activities to which Policy applies

  1. The Policy applies to a business or industrial activity described in the Schedule of Employer Particulars. The Employer can change the businesses or industrial activities to which the policy applies by giving notice of the change in writing to the Insurer. The Schedule of Employer Particulars is taken to have been changed to give effect to any such notice given by the Employer. The premium payable for the policy is to be adjusted in accordance with any change in the businesses or industrial activities to which the policy applies.

Insurer is directly liable to workers

  1. The Insurer (as well as the Employer) is directly liable to any worker and (if the worker dies) to the worker's dependants or other persons to pay the compensation under the Act or other amount independently of the Act for which the Employer is liable and indemnified under the Policy. This means that a claim can be made and action taken directly against the Insurer.

Insurer is bound by judgments etc. against Employer

  1. The Insurer is bound by and subject to any judgment, order, decision or award given or made against the Employer, in respect of any liability for which the Insurer is liable to indemnify the Employer under the Policy.

Premium

  1. The policy premium is calculated taking into consideration the following:
    • the value of wages paid to workers over the last three years and
    • your claims history over the last three years
    • your OH&S procedures and standards

Policy conditions

Employer must give Insurer notice of injury to worker

  1. The Employer must give notice to the Insurer of any injury as soon as practicable after information comes to the knowledge of the Employer, or of the Employer's representative for the time being, as to the happening of the injury or of any incapacity resulting from the injury.

How notices are to be given

  1. (1) Notices must be given to the Insurer by hand delivery, post or electronic transmission.
    (2) Notices must be given to the Employer by hand delivery, post or electronic transmission.

Employer not to make admissions etc

  1. The Employer must not, without the written authority of the Insurer, incur any expense of litigation, or make any payment, settlement or admission of liability in respect of any injury to or claim made by any worker.

Defence of proceedings

  1. The Insurer can use the name of the Employer in respect of anything indemnified under the policy, including the bringing, defending, enforcing or settling of legal proceedings for the benefit of the Insurer. The Employer must comply with all reasonable requests by the Insurer for information, assistance and documents to enable the Insurer to settle or resist a claim.

Subrogation

  1. The Insurer can use the name of the Employer in any proceedings to enforce, for the benefit of the Insurer, any order made for costs or otherwise. The Insurer has the right of subrogation in respect of all rights which the Employer may have against any person or persons who may be responsible to the Employer or otherwise in respect of any claim for any injury covered by the policy. The Employer must execute such documents as may be necessary for the purpose of vesting any of those rights in the Insurer, as and when required to do so by the Insurer.

Precautions to prevent injury

  1. The Employer must take all reasonable precautions to prevent injury.

Alterations and repairs following injury

  1. So far as is reasonably practicable, the Employer must not alter or repair any work, machinery, plant, way or appliance after an injury to a worker occurs in connection with it, until the Insurer has had an opportunity to examine it or has consented to the alteration or repair being made.

Insurer's right of inspection

  1. The Insurer is entitled to inspect at any reasonable time any work, machinery, plant, way or appliance used in the Employer's business or industrial activity.

Assignment

  1. An assignment of interest under the policy does not bind the Insurer unless the written consent of the Insurer to the assignment has been obtained.

Renewal of Policy

  1. The policy is renewed on the expiration of the current period of insurance to which it applies, except where:
    1. the Employer has given written notice to the Insurer (before the expiration of the current period of insurance) that renewal is not required; or
    2. the Insurer has given the Employer notice in writing not less than 14 days before the expiration of the current period of insurance that the Insurer refuses to renew the Policy

The period of each renewal is 12 months, or such shorter period as the Insurer and the Employer agree to before renewal.

Cancellation of Policy

  1. The Insurer may cancel the policy at any time if the Insurer has first obtained the written consent of the WorkCover Authority (and cannot cancel the policy in any circumstances without that consent). The Insurer cancels the policy by giving notice of cancellation in writing to the Employer. The cancellation takes effect on the cancellation day notified in the notice of cancellation but that day must not be less than 7 days after the notice of cancellation is given to the Employer. Section 184 of the Act applies as if the Policy had been cancelled under that section.

No waiver or alteration

  1. A provision of the policy cannot be waived or altered unless the consent of the Insurer has been previously obtained and signified by endorsement on the policy.

Employer must tell the Insurer if unable to give suitable work requested by injured worker

  1. If a worker employed by the Employer is partially incapacitated for work as a result of an injury and requests the Employer to provide suitable employment for him or her and the Employer does not immediately provide suitable employment, the Employer must promptly notify the Insurer of the following:
    1. a. the fact of the worker's request and that the Employer has not provided suitable employment;
    2. b. any proposal to provide or arrange for suitable employment for the worker, having regard to the medical certificate which the worker supplies and to the Employer's workplace rehabilitation program(if any) or otherwise.

Employer must advise change of business or industry

  1. The Employer must notify the Insurer, as soon as practicable, of any change in the business or industrial activity carried on by the Employer.
  2. Records to be kept of wages
  3. The Employer agrees to allow the Insurer to inspect the records kept by the Employer under section 174 of the Act. Note: Section 174 of the Act requires the Employer to keep certain records (such as records of wages paid to workers) and requires the Employer to keep these records for at least seven years. The Insurer may inspect these records.

Cover conditional on Employer complying with Policy, Act and regulations

  1. The indemnity provided by the policy is conditional on compliance by the Employer with the provisions of the policy, the Act and the regulations under the Act.

Act and regulations form part of Policy

  1. The policy is subject to the provisions of the Act and the regulations under the Act and those provisions are taken to form part of the policy.

Definitions

In the policy:

  1. "Employer" means the person insured under the policy, being the person named as the Employer in the Schedule of Employers Particulars;

    "Insurer" means the insurer of the Employer under the policy, being the person named as the Insurer in the Schedule of Employer Particulars;

    "period of insurance" means the period specified in the Schedule of Employer Particulars as the period during which the policy is in force, and any subsequent period in respect of which the policy is duly renewed;

    "the Act" means the Workers Compensation Act 1987

    "the Proposal" means the proposal for insurance in respect of which the policy is issued (made by the Employer to the Insurer);

    "Schedule of Employer Particulars" means the Schedule most recently issued by the Insurer to the Employer as the Schedule of Employer Particulars in respect of the policy;

    "worker" has the same meaning as in the Act (including the extended meaning it has because of Schedule 1 (Deemed employment of workers) to the Act).

Proposal and Schedule form part of Policy

  1. The Proposal is the basis of this contract of insurance. Both the Proposal and the Schedule of Employer Particulars are considered to form part of the policy.

Notes

  1. Recovery of excess from Employer. Under section 160 of the Act, the Employer is required to repay an excess of the first $500 this needs to be amended refer Claims department (or if another amount is prescribed by regulations under the Act, that other amount) of weekly payments of compensation in respect of each claim paid by the Insurer. An Employer is not required to make the repayment to the extent that the Insurer either offsets the amount against compensation duly advanced by the Employer to the claimant worker or makes an appropriate debit against any amount standing to the Employer's credit for premiums. No longer applicable.