Workers Compensation is State based, other than Comcare, which looks after Federal Government employees.
Here's an example from the NSW legislation ....
Hearing impairment claims
You may be able to claim for the cost of reasonably necessary hearing aids and certain hearing tests.
Hearing tests
If you are concerned about your hearing, you should consult your general practitioner to obtain a referral to an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist.
The ENT specialist must be selected from the
SIRA list of approved assessors of permanent impairment for hearing.
Hearing aids
To be eligible to claim for the cost of a hearing aid, you must have a hearing loss injury arising from your employment. For example, hearing loss as a result of a noisy work environment.
The ENT will assess whether you would benefit from the provision of a hearing aid to help manage your hearing loss.
A claim for hearing aids is a claim for medical expenses.
Hearing loss
If you have been assessed as having hearing loss as a result of your employment you may be able to
claim lump sum compensation as well.
If the hearing loss was due to noisy employment that occurred on or after 1 January 2002, you may be entitled to make a claim for permanent impairment lump sum compensation if you have been assessed as having a minimum of 20.5 per cent binaural hearing loss.
If your hearing loss was due to noisy employment that occurred before 1 January 2002, you may be entitled to make a claim for permanent impairment lump sum compensation if you have been assessed as having a minimum of six per cent binaural hearing loss.
The
guidelines for the evaluation of permanent impairment explain how the assessment is carried out.
You can use the
SIRA permanent impairment assessor finder to locate an approved assessor of permanent impairment near you.
If you are no longer working in a noisy industry, then you must lodge the claim with the employer who last employed you in a noisy workplace.
The
guidelines for claiming workers compensation has more information.
Making a claim
To make a claim for medical expenses for hearing aids you must provide the employer or insurer with:
- the ENT specialist report recommending the use of hearing aids and a copy of the audiogram
- the hearing needs assessment report and a quote for the cost of the hearing aids completed by a SIRA approved hearing service provider
- a completed workers injury claim form.
To make a claim for permanent impairment, you must provide to the employer or insurer with:
