Accident Compensation Act 2001

21B Cover for work-related mental injury

• (1) A person has cover for a personal injury that is a work-related mental injury if—

  • (a) he or she suffers the mental injury inside or outside New Zealand on or after 1 October 2008; and

  • (b) the mental injury is caused by a single event of a kind described in subsection (2).

  (2) Subsection (1)(b) applies to an event that—

  • (a) the person experiences, sees, or hears directly in the circumstances described in section 28(1); and

  • (b) is an event that could reasonably be expected to cause mental injury to people generally; and

  • (c) occurs—

    • (i) in New Zealand; or

    • (ii) outside New Zealand to a person who is ordinarily resident in New Zealand when the event occurs.

  (3) For the purposes of this section, it is irrelevant whether or not the person is ordinarily resident in New Zealand on the date on which he or she suffers the mental injury.

  (4) Section 36(1) describes how the date referred to in subsection (3) is determined.

  (5) In subsection (2)(a), a person experiences, sees, or hears an event directly if that person—

  • (a) is involved in or witnesses the event himself or herself; and

  • (b) is in close physical proximity to the event at the time it occurs.

  (6) To avoid doubt, a person does not experience, see, or hear an event directly if that person experiences, sees, or hears it through a secondary source, for example, by—

  • (a) seeing it on television (including closed circuit television):

  • (b) seeing pictures of, or reading about, it in news media:

  • (c) hearing it on radio or by telephone:

  • (d) hearing about it from radio, telephone, or another person.

  (7) In this section, event—

  • (a) means—

    • (i) an event that is sudden; or

    • (ii) a direct outcome of a sudden event; and

  • (b) includes a series of events that—

    • (i) arise from the same cause or circumstance; and

    • (ii) together comprise a single incident or occasion; but

  • (c) does not include a gradual process.

  Section 21B: inserted, on 1 October 2008, by section 6 of the Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 46).