A serious injury, such as a fall, a crush injury, a severe burn or an amputation, can change a tradie's whole career. Once the emergency is over, the COIDA process decides how your medical care and income are covered while you recover and, if needed, retrain. COIDA pays 75 percent of your earnings while you cannot work, for up to 12 months and extendable to 24 in deserving cases, and your employer fronts the first three months of those payments. Here is how the process runs from the accident to the outcome.
COIDA stands for the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act 130 of 1993.
Phase 1, immediate reporting
- The accident must be reported to the employer within 7 days, and the employer must report it to the Compensation Fund within 7 days of becoming aware of it.
- The employer submits a WCL2, the accident report, to the Fund, and the treating doctor submits a WCL4, the first medical report.
Phase 2, medical treatment
- COIDA covers all reasonable and necessary medical treatment while the claim is open.
- Treatment should be from a Fund-designated provider. Your doctor should know who qualifies; if not, call 0860 105 350.
Phase 3, temporary disability benefit
If you cannot work while recovering, COIDA pays a temporary total disability benefit of 75 percent of your pre-accident earnings, for up to 12 months and extendable to 24 months in deserving cases. The employer fronts the first three months of payments. There is an annual earnings ceiling that limits the benefit; check the current cap at www.labour.gov.za rather than relying on a fixed figure, as it is adjusted each year.
Phase 4, permanent disability assessment
- Once your condition has stabilised, typically 12 to 24 months after the injury, a medical board assesses the percentage of permanent disability.
- At 30 percent disability or more, you receive a lump sum or a monthly pension based on the disability percentage and your pre-accident earnings.
- Below 30 percent, you receive a lump sum.
Retraining and return to work
The Compensation Fund may fund vocational rehabilitation and retraining where you can no longer do your previous job because of the injury. In practice this service is under-resourced and its availability and quality vary, so the Fund's own website at cfonline.labour.gov.za and the Department of Employment and Labour's Disability Unit are the best current sources on what is actually on offer.
Self-employed tradies are not covered by COIDA unless they have registered as an employer covering themselves. If you are not covered, income-protection insurance is the essential alternative, because a serious injury can take you off the tools for a year or more.
Common mistakes
- Missing the 7-day reporting windows. Both you and the employer have 7 days; late reporting complicates the claim.
- Assuming the benefit is only ever 12 months. It can be extended to 24 months in deserving cases, and the employer covers the first three months.
- Treating a fixed rand cap as gospel. The earnings ceiling changes annually; check the current figure at www.labour.gov.za.
- Going solo with no income protection. Without COIDA cover and without insurance, a serious injury means no income while you cannot work.
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