Burn injury claim
Burns and scars after a motor accident
Vehicle fire, hot fluid, battery chemicals, friction or airbag deployment can cause thermal, chemical or abrasion burns. The depth and percentage of body surface burned are important during acute treatment, but permanent CTP impairment is assessed from the healed skin, grafts, symptoms, treatment needs and activities of daily living - not from the initial burn size alone.
Accident mechanism and diagnosis
How can this injury happen in a motor accident?
Vehicle fire or hot-fluid escape
Fuel ignition, engine coolant, steam or heated metal can cause deep thermal burns and inhalation injury.
Battery or chemical exposure
Corrosive fluid can damage skin and eyes and may continue causing injury until properly decontaminated.
Road abrasion or airbag burn
A sliding rider or pedestrian may sustain friction burns, while airbag gases and fabric can cause local thermal or chemical injury.
The injuries that may actually occur
- partial- or full-thickness skin burn
- friction burn with contamination and tissue loss
- chemical burn
- skin graft or flap reconstruction
- hypertrophic or keloid scar
- contracture affecting a joint, face, hand or neck
Symptoms and functional effects to document
- itching, sensitivity, altered temperature tolerance or breakdown
- tightness and restricted movement
- ongoing dressing, pressure garment or skin-care needs
- colour, texture and contour change
- difficulty with clothing, sun exposure, work or self-care
Urgent health warning
Burns involving the face, airway, eyes, hands, genitals, major joints, chemicals or electricity, or any burn with breathing difficulty, require urgent medical care.
Medical evidence
What tests and findings matter?
The permanent assessment should describe the healed skin organ and any distinct contracture, nerve injury or respiratory consequence. Burn-unit charts prove the acute injury; later scar examination establishes permanent impairment.
| Test or record | What it can establish | What it cannot establish alone |
|---|---|---|
| Burn chart and operative records | Document depth, body surface area, debridement, graft donor sites, infection and reconstruction. | Acute burn percentage is not the permanent WPI percentage. |
| Scar and graft examination | Records colour, contour, texture, adherence, breakdown, sensitivity and treatment needs. | A scar being visible does not automatically satisfy an impairment class. |
| Range of motion and contracture assessment | Measures permanent restriction where a scar crosses a joint or affects face, hand or neck function. | The skin scar and the same movement loss cannot be counted twice. |
| Respiratory testing where inhalation occurred | Spirometry, gas transfer or exercise testing may establish permanent respiratory dysfunction. | Smoke exposure alone does not produce respiratory WPI without permanent function loss. |
A separate legal classification
Threshold injury is not the same as WPI
A deep burn, graft, tissue loss or structural complication may be more than a soft tissue injury. A superficial abrasion or minor burn that heals without qualifying damage may remain threshold. The WPI result is a separate permanent assessment.
A non-threshold classification does not set a WPI percentage. Conversely, a low or zero WPI assessment does not necessarily decide the threshold-injury classification. Physical and psychiatric WPI are assessed separately and cannot be combined to determine whether impairment is greater than 10%.
Motor Accident Guidelines Part 6
How is permanent impairment assessed?
Clauses 6.258-6.266 adopt AMA4 Chapter 13 and modify its scar method. Table 2 classifies skin impairment using signs and symptoms, activities-of-daily-living limitation and treatment. The TEMSKI in Table 6.18 extends class 1 and is applied by best fit, with reasons for the selected percentage.
| Assessment issue | CTP method | Important limit |
|---|---|---|
| Healed skin, scar and graft effect | Use AMA4 Chapter 13 Table 2 and the Guidelines TEMSKI where applicable. | Clause 6.261 expressly says a scar may be rated 0% WPI. |
| Contracture or nerve damage | Assess the distinct musculoskeletal or neurological impairment under its applicable chapter, then combine if permitted. | Do not rate the same restriction both as skin ADL loss and joint movement loss. |
| Multiple burn and donor-site scars | Assess the overall effect on the skin organ under clause 6.263. | Individual scars are not each assigned a percentage and added. |
Verified Guidelines example or rule
The verified CTP rule is that a scar may be present and rated 0% WPI (clause 6.261). The TEMSKI in Table 6.18 extends AMA4 Table 2 class 1 and must be applied by best fit, not by counting scar features as points.
What may result in 0% or no assessable WPI?
- a healed scar with no qualifying symptoms, ADL restriction or ongoing treatment
- a superficial burn that resolves without permanent skin change
- an acute graft or wound that is not yet stable enough to assess
- cosmetic concern alone that does not satisfy the applicable facial or skin method
What may support a higher assessment if verified?
- widespread permanent skin change with ongoing treatment needs
- recurrent breakdown, marked sensitivity or intolerance affecting daily activity
- contracture causing a separately measured functional loss
- facial disfigurement, inhalation injury or nerve damage assessed under an applicable distinct method
Combination and overlap rules
- Multiple skin scars are assessed as the total skin-organ effect, not added scar by scar.
- A joint contracture, nerve injury or respiratory injury is combined only where it is distinct from the skin impairment.
- A psychiatric injury related to burns or appearance is assessed separately and cannot be combined with physical WPI to pass the greater-than-10% test.
What does not establish impairment by itself?
- the acute burn surface-area percentage
- a graft operation alone
- one photograph without examination or prognosis
- pain or appearance concern without the applicable criteria
Crash-specific examples
Airbag forearm burn that heals flat
The treatment may be compensable, but a stable scar with no significant symptoms, treatment or daily-life restriction can be assessed at 0% WPI.
Deep hand burn with graft and contracture
The skin method addresses the graft and scar; measured finger or wrist restriction may require a distinct upper-limb method after double counting is removed.
Claim file preparation
Evidence checklist
Assessment source
Burn and scar assessment under NSW CTP
Assessment source: Motor Accident Guidelines Part 6, clauses 6.258-6.266; AMA4 Chapter 13, Table 2 (page 280); TEMSKI Table 6.18.
Threshold injury: Deep burn, graft or tissue loss may be non-threshold; superficial injury must be classified from the exact diagnosis and statutory definition.
What the assessor checks
- healed skin signs and symptoms
- activities-of-daily-living restriction
- treatment requirements
- TEMSKI best-fit reasoning
- distinct contracture or nerve impairment without overlap
What does not establish the result by itself
- acute burn size
- a scar merely existing
- grafting alone
- pain without the applicable skin or other body-system findings
Official sources
Related NSW CTP guides
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Frequently asked questions
- Does a skin graft automatically create WPI?
- No. The permanent healed result, symptoms, treatment and daily-life effect are assessed.
- Is the burn surface-area percentage the WPI?
- No. Acute burn size and permanent whole person impairment are different measurements.
- Can a visible scar be rated 0%?
- Yes. Clause 6.261 expressly states that a scar may be present and rated 0% WPI.
- How are multiple scars assessed?
- They are assessed for their overall effect on the skin organ, not rated and added one by one.
- Can restricted joint movement be assessed too?
- Potentially, if it is a distinct permanent impairment and the same functional loss is not counted again under the skin method.