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Consultation - Injury management standards and guidance notes

Self-insurance is a key element of the South Australian Return to Work scheme, granted to employers who meet legislative and regulatory requirements, including WHS and Injury Management performance standards and the Code of conduct for self-insured employers.- external site- external site- external site- external site- external site- external site- external site- external site- external site

ReturnToWorkSA considers criteria in section 129 of the Return to Work Act and evaluates compliance with Work Health and Safety (WHS) and Injury Management (IM) standards. Monitoring includes specific terms and conditions, ensuring adherence to registration requirements.

The IM standards provide a framework for self-insured employer performance and the last significant review was in 2016.

ReturnToWorkSA has completed a review of the IM standards and guidance notes, including the specific requirements aligned to the sub-elements. The intent of the review was to:

  • streamline the standards and reconfigure in a more logical format,
  • address gaps or emerging risks observed during oversight of registrations or past evaluations,
  • allow ReturnToWorkSA's Self-insured Evaluators to discuss current testing procedures for each sub-element and agree and define a common approach, and
  • rewrite guidance notes to reduce ambiguity and support consistent interpretation of the IM standards.

Providing feedback:

The consultation discussion paper- external site- external site- external site- external site- external site- external site- external site- external site- external site- external site- external site is still available for reference.

We welcome any final feedback on the changes by 19 July 2024 via

Following this we will make the final version and catalogue of changes available on our website. Employers will be provided until 31 December 2024 to update systems and implement changes. Claims reviewed at evaluation will be assessed against the requirements applicable at that point in time although existing legislative requirements will not change.

We understand that training and implementation needs may vary, however we believe this is an appropriate timeframe. Evaluators will consider reasonable submissions to seek an extension of the grace period for certain sub-elements where appropriate rationale is provided.

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We have also updated the catalogue of changes- external site- external site which captures all of the amendments including the rationale. This will support implementation and serve as a reference for future evaluations.

If you have any questions or would like more information about the proposed changes to the Self-insured injury management standards and guidance notes consultation, please contact

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