Why do they make life so hard for the Brave.

So many first responders have had careers in the police and then moved on to the fire service or become paramedics or vice versa. However, there is a potential to be affected by vicarious and cumulative trauma throughout each service. It doesn't just disappear when you leave one emergency organization and start in another with a clean slate. So when decisions are being made on who is the responsible organization to take the onus of a worker's mental health injury like PTSD, organizations negate the fact that they weren't in the last period of employment, so they have no responsibility, even though the worker has seen sufficient trauma during that employment which has caused injury, compounded with previous trauma, surely common sense should prevail that every organization takes responsibility for their workers, so how far do they want people workers to fall, we would like to see total prevention of suicides, what are the statistics on first responders who attempt or succeed in suicide after denied compensation claims?

The problem with first responders going through the process of a worker's compensation claim differs in every State and territory in Australia. No method is ever the same or straightforward. The worker's compensation system compounds first responders' physical and mental health, exacerbating conditions, impeding recovery, and preventing first responders from reporting. The compensation process is full of confusion high degree of stigma, with multiple delays, constant assessments, and added stress for a person already suffering a mental health injury and cognitively can't understand what's happening to themselves and the convoluted system. Many First responders have been diagnosed with PTSD, and most have issues accessing information and understanding the worker's compensation system. First responder organizations have a duty of care to the public and their workers. They actively identify, continually assess, and control hazards that threaten a worker's physical and mental health.?

So why are worker's compensation claims always challenging? It's believed that many insurance companies utilize delay tactics to prolong the application process, to encourage frustration hoping first responders would give up because it's too hard. Insurance companies forget about the duty of care to first responders. The process must be revised when it encourages workers to relive traumatic events due to a drawn-out intended process. So why don't we have Presumptive Legislation on a National level, so all first responders with a mental health injury (PTSD) can access compensation without having to prove that their condition is work-related? Presumptive Legislation would reverse the onus of proof for all cases. It would require all First responder organizations to verify that the worker's mental health injury (PTSD) is not caused by their job. This would ultimately take the burden of proving or disproving all the facts from the injured first responder who is struggling to manage a life-changing mental health condition for them and their families. The system needs to change in Australia now. Every State and every territory should have presumptive compensation legislation.

Presumptive Legislation in the first response context is with precedent in Australia, with Legislation enacted by Parliament in 2011 relating to occupational cancers in firefighters, following a Senate committee inquiry into the matter. The inquiry concluded:

The committee has carefully examined a large amount of evidence with which it has been presented. Study after study has pointed to a higher risk of cancer for firefighters than for the general population. Science has confirmed what firefighters suspected for decades: that a disproportionate number of them in the prime of their lives are brought down with illnesses usually reserved for the old and the infirm.

The committee recognizes that cancer is an illness that touches many fit, healthy people in the non-firefighter population. It is often unpredictable and incomprehensible due to genetics or factors we do not yet understand. But when the science tells us that a particular group of people routinely exposed through their service to the community to known carcinogens are at higher risk of developing certain types of cancer, the response becomes evident.

The committee recognizes that when a person spends their professional career inhaling and absorbing known—and probably some as yet unknown—carcinogens in the course of public service, it is the moral duty of the community to enable them to seek compensation should they fall ill as a consequence.

…the introduction of a legislative presumption is the right thing to do to support our first responders…suffering from PTSD.

It will remove a potential source of stress for those with PTSD and highlight the importance of helping people return to meaningful work.

Claiming worker's compensation can be daunting, challenging, or stressful, mainly if the claim is mental health related.

PTSD and other psychological conditions are different from other diseases and injuries in that they can be challenging to diagnose and can be secondary to an initial injury…

PTSD is a remarkably complex condition to diagnose, mainly when it results from cumulative exposure to incidents, which can be the case for emergency service personnel and first responders.

As such, it may be difficult for workers to navigate the worker's compensation process to have PTSD claims approved.

The presumption will help remove any barriers people may be experiencing in making an actual claim.

In addition, the legislative presumption will go a long way in helping to reduce the stigma often associated with mental health, which may impact workers' decisions to disclose their symptoms, leading to the under-diagnosis of conditions such as PTSD.

It has been recognized that there has been a significant shift in attitudes over the past few decades in adopting preventative measures in identifying and addressing mental health issues, including PTSD.

However, more can be done to bring about the cultural change needed where workers will be confident enough to put their hands up to say they are struggling without fear of reprisal.

This Legislation is a step in the right direction.

On 27 March 2018, the Senate referred an inquiry into the role of Commonwealth, State, and territory Governments in addressing the high rates of mental health conditions experienced by first responders, emergency service workers, and volunteers to the Education and Employment References Committee for inquiry and report by 5 December 2018.

The Australia Government Recommendation 8

The committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government establish a national stakeholder working group, reporting to the COAG Council of Attorneys General, to assess the benefits of a coordinated, national approach to presumptive Legislation covering PTSD and other psychological injuries in first responder and emergency service agencies. This initiative must consider and work alongside Legislation already introduced or being developed in state jurisdictions, harmonizing the relevant compensation laws across all Australian jurisdictions.

It's now 2023, and five years have passed. How many lives have gone?

I'll always support you..