Return to Work Act 2014

The object of this Act is to establish a scheme that supports workers who suffer injuries at work and that has as its primary objective to provide early intervention in respect of claims so as to ensure that action is taken to support workers—

in realising the health benefits of work; and

in recovering from injury; and

in returning to work (including, if required, after retraining);

in being restored to the community when return to work is not possible.

In connection with subsection (1), the other objectives that apply with respect to this Act are—

to ensure that workers who suffer injuries at work receive high‑quality service, are treated with dignity, and are supported financially; and

to ensure that employers' costs are contained within reasonable limits so that the impact of work injuries on South Australian businesses is minimised; and

to provide a reasonable balance between the interests of workers and the interests of employers; and

to reduce the overall social and economic cost of work injuries to the State and to the community; and

to support activities that are aimed at reducing the incidence of work injuries; and

to reduce disputation when workers are injured at work by improving the quality of decision-making and by reducing adversarial contests to the greatest possible extent.

A person exercising judicial, quasi‑judicial or administrative powers must interpret this Act in the light of its objects and these objectives without bias towards the interests of employers on the one hand, or workers on the other.

The Corporation, the worker and the employer from whose employment a work injury arises must seek to achieve an injured worker's return to work (taking into account the objects and requirements of this