How workers compensation works for Tasmanian employers
In short
- Tasmania’s scheme is privately underwritten: employers hold a policy with a licensed insurer such as Allianz rather than with a single state fund.
- WorkSafe Tasmania administers the legislation the scheme runs under; the WorkCover Tasmania Board handles self-insurance permits specifically.
- An employer that cannot or does not want a standard policy can apply to the Board to become self-insured instead.
Tasmania sits closer to Western Australia’s model than to Queensland’s: there is no single government insurer, and a business places its policy with one of a small number of licensed private insurers. This page is that structure.
Two different bodies show up in Tasmanian workers compensation paperwork, and telling them apart is useful: WorkSafe Tasmania administers the legislation, and the WorkCover Tasmania Board deals specifically with self-insurance.
A licensed-insurer scheme
Tasmanian law requires employers to hold a workers compensation insurance policy through a licensed insurer. Cover is available from insurers licensed to write the class in Tasmania, including Allianz among others, rather than from a single state fund the way it works in some other states.
WorkSafe Tasmania’s role
WorkSafe Tasmania is the authority responsible for administering the legislation the scheme runs under, alongside its work health and safety functions. It is the reference point for what the legislation requires, even though the policy itself sits with a private insurer rather than with WorkSafe directly.
Self-insurance through the WorkCover Tasmania Board
An employer that would rather not hold a standard licensed-insurer policy can apply to the WorkCover Tasmania Board for a permit to be self-insured, taking on the claims liability directly under the Board’s oversight. This pathway sits with the Board specifically, rather than with WorkSafe Tasmania generally.
Questions
- Does Tasmania have one government workers compensation insurer?
- No. Employers hold a policy with a licensed private insurer, in a structure closer to Western Australia’s than to a single-fund state.
- Who do I contact about the legislation itself, versus my policy?
- WorkSafe Tasmania administers the legislation the scheme runs under. Your policy, and its day-to-day servicing, sits with your licensed insurer directly.
- Can any business apply to self-insure?
- The pathway runs through the WorkCover Tasmania Board’s own permit process, and whether a particular business qualifies is a question to put to the Board directly.
Sources
- WorkSafe Tasmania — The Tasmanian regulator for work health and safety and workers compensation.