Where a worker suffers two separate compensable injuries from discrete incidents and the later injury aggravates the earlier one, each injury must independently satisfy the 'serious injury' definition in s 134AB(37)-(38) of the Accident Compensation Act 1985. The consequences of both injuries cannot be accumulated. The correct approach requires: (1) identifying each injury; (2) delineating the impairment consequences of each; (3) determining whether the aggravating injury independently qualifies as a serious injury; (4) comparing the worker's condition before and after the aggravating injury; and (5) assessing the additional impairment attributable to the aggravating injury alone. Grech v Orica Australia Pty Ltd does not apply to cases involving two separate injuries from discrete incidents.
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