Injured truckies lost in Comcare system

• General News
• 17th July 2013

Just ask any poor bugger who has been caught up in its net and they will tell you.

There are a number of private transport firms who operate under licence to Comcare and appoint self-funded insurers.

These companies employ insurance firms such as CGU to manage their claims and they can be very difficult to deal with.

Some seem to take great delight in dragging out the claims process in the hope that injured employees will just give up and go away.

Two blokes who have been subjected to the back burner treatment are Linfox linehaul driver John “Buck” Rogers and K&S Regal driver Gary Keatley.

John hurt his shoulder back in April while trying to release a truck turntable. Not as easy to do as it should be.

The handle ricocheted back and he felt a sharp pain like someone had stabbed him in the shoulder.

John took a couple of pain killers and after an hour or two the pain went away. He thought he was alright.

But a week or so later he was tightening up the straps on a load of oversize tyres at Newman when he felt something snap in his shoulder like a lackey band breaking.

Linfox sent John to the company doctor who reckoned it was only a strained muscle and it would eventually heal itself.

Dissatisfied with this diagnosis he contacted me and I advised him to go and see my own doctor – which he had every right to do!

John’s doctor said he needed to go for MRI scans which would cost $800but CGU refused to pay.

It was at this point I thought desperate situations require desperate measures and decided to bring in one of the big guns. I put in a call to the Laurie D’Apice who is President of Human Resources at Linfox.

Thankfully Laurie was able to sort out the MRI payment and John had the scans done.

They clearly showed up several tears, a bone sticking into the shoulder joint and a serious infection.

John’s GP made immediate arrangements for urgent surgery on the badly injured shoulder.

All good – No! CGU held up approval of the operation and it took another call from me to Laurie D’Apice to get things moving again.

Approval was granted the morning before the operation was due to be carried out.

John now has 18 months of rehabilitation ahead of him before there is any hope of getting back in a truck.

Like most people in his situation, the last thing he wants is to be sitting around twiddling his thumbs at home. He’d much rather be back on the job.

But at least he has had the medical help required to eventually get him fit for work again. The way Comcare and CGU were handling things he had no hope.

One man who knows exactly how John is feeling is K&S truck driver Gary Keetley.

Gary has had two discs removed from his neck after a run in with a chain binder while tightening a load on a North West run about two years ago.

The incident was life changing. He’s had some cages inserted into his neckto help support what is left of his upper spinal column.

Gary’s doctor and specialist are not confident of a bright future for him and the insurers – CGU again – haven’t given a rats.

TWU lawyers Slater and Gordon are now handling Gary’s case.

Both men have one thing in common. They both say that without the TWU they would now be well and truly up shit creek in barbed wire canoes.