Workers Compensation Act 1987

No compensation is payable under this Act in respect of an injury (other than a disease injury) unless the employment concerned was a substantial contributing factor to the injury.

The following are examples of matters to be taken into account for the purposes of determining whether a worker’s employment was a substantial contributing factor to an injury (but this subsection does not limit the kinds of matters that can be taken into account for the purposes of such a determination)—

the time and place of the injury,

the nature of the work performed and the particular tasks of that work,

the duration of the employment,

the probability that the injury or a similar injury would have happened anyway, at about the same time or at the same stage of the worker’s life, if he or she had not been at work or had not worked in that employment,

the worker’s state of health before the injury and the existence of any hereditary risks,

the worker’s lifestyle and his or her activities outside the workplace.

A worker’s employment is not to be regarded as a substantial contributing factor to a worker’s injury merely because of either or both of the following—

the injury arose out of or in the course of, or arose both out of and in the course of, the worker’s employment,

the worker’s incapacity for work, loss as referred to in Division 4 of Part 3, need for medical or related treatment, hospital treatment, ambulance service or workplace rehabilitation service as referred to in Division 3 of Part 3, or the worker’s death, resulted from the injury.

This section does not apply in relation to—

a primary psychological injury to which section 8O applies, or

an injury to which section 10, 11 or 12 applies.