Guide · Work · 6 min read
Hurt at work
Who can claim compensation for an accident at work, the time limits, and what your employer has to do.
In plain English · by bruneilaws · not legal advice· Law as at 30 Sep 2026
On this page · 10 parts
The short answer
If personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of your employment is caused to you as a workman, your employer is liable, except as the Workmen's Compensation Act provides, to pay you compensation under that Act.
Workmen's Compensation Act s 4(1)
Except as section 12 provides, you can recover compensation only if notice of the accident was given to your employer within 7 days after it happened, and a claim for compensation was made within 6 months from the accident or, if the workman died, within 6 months from the date of death.
Who counts as a workman
Subject to the exceptions the Act lists, a workman is any person who has entered into or works under a contract of employment, by way of manual labour or otherwise, whether the contract is express or implied, oral or in writing.
Workmen's Compensation Act s 2(1)
The Act's definition leaves out, among others:
- A person employed otherwise than by way of manual labour whose earnings, worked out under section 9, are more than $750 a month
- A person whose employment is casual and not for the purposes of the employer's trade or business, other than a person employed for the purposes of any gain or recreation and engaged or paid through a club
- A member of any local armed forces established under any written law
- An outworker
- A member of the employer's family who lives with the employer in the employer's house
Accidents that count
An accident arising in the course of your employment is taken, unless there is evidence to the contrary, to have arisen out of it as well.
Workmen's Compensation Act s 4(10)
An accident while you travel to or from your place of work as a passenger, with your employer's express or implied permission, in a vehicle, ship, vessel or aircraft operated by or for your employer, and not in the ordinary course of a public transport service, is taken to arise out of and in the course of your employment if it would have been so had you been obliged to travel that way.
Workmen's Compensation Act s 4(2)
An accident at premises where you are employed also counts if it happens while you are taking steps, in an actual or supposed emergency there, to rescue, help or protect people who are, or are thought to be, injured or in danger, or to prevent or reduce damage to property.
Workmen's Compensation Act s 4(3)
An accident can still count even if you were breaking regulations or your employer's orders, or acting without instructions, as long as it would have counted otherwise and what you were doing was for the purposes of and in connection with your employer's trade or business.
When no compensation is payable
Your employer is not liable to pay compensation for an injury that does not stop you from earning full wages at your work for at least 3 days.
Workmen's Compensation Act s 4(6)
Your employer is not liable if it is proved that the injury is directly due to your having been under the influence of alcohol or a drug at the time, unless the injury results in death, or in permanent incapacity causing a loss of earning capacity at or above the level section 4(7) sets.
Workmen's Compensation Act s 4(7)
No compensation is payable for incapacity or death resulting from deliberate self-injury, or from deliberately making an accidental injury worse.
Giving notice and claiming
No notice to the employer is needed where a fatal accident has occurred.
Workmen's Compensation Act s 12(2)
Notice can be given in writing or orally, to your employer, to the foreman or other person who supervised you, or to a person your employer designated for the purpose. It has to state, in ordinary language, the cause of the injury and the date of the accident.
Workmen's Compensation Act s 12(5)
The Commissioner can give the notice on your behalf, with the same effect as if you gave it yourself.
Workmen's Compensation Act s 12(8)
A late claim is not barred if the delay was caused by mistake, absence from Brunei or other reasonable cause.
What your employer has to do
Your employer has to give the Commissioner written notice, within 10 days, of an accident on its premises, in connection with its trade or business, that results in the death of the person injured, or totally or partially disables them from earning full wages at their work for more than three consecutive days.
Workmen's Compensation Act s 13
After notice of the accident, your employer may, and if the Commissioner directs has to, offer within 5 days to have you examined free of charge by a registered medical practitioner. You have to submit to the examination, but not otherwise than in accordance with the regulations made under the Act, or at shorter intervals than they prescribe.
Workmen's Compensation Act s 15(1)
If you refuse to be examined when required, or obstruct the medical practitioner, your right to compensation is suspended for as long as the refusal or obstruction goes on.
How much
The amount of compensation is as the Third Schedule to the Act specifies.
Workmen's Compensation Act s 8
While a claim is waiting to be settled or decided, your employer can pay you up to $500 directly, and the Commissioner may order that all or part of it is deducted from the compensation.
You cannot sign it away
A contract or agreement by which a workman gives up any right of compensation from the employer for personal injury arising out of or in the course of the employment is void so far as it would remove or reduce anyone's liability to pay compensation under the Act.
Claims beyond the Act
Where your injury is caused by the negligence, breach of statutory duty or other wrongful act or omission of your employer, or of a person your employer is responsible for, the Act does not limit your employer's liability outside the Act. Damages awarded to you for it are reduced by the value of any compensation paid or payable under the Act for the injury.
Settling a dispute
A workman or an employer can apply to the Commissioner to settle a question, with a short statement of the circumstances of the accident and the injury that resulted, in the prescribed form and with the prescribed fee.
Workmen's Compensation Act s 29(4)
A party aggrieved by an order the Commissioner makes after an inquiry under section 29(1) may, within 14 days of being told of the order, apply to the arbitrator to vary or cancel it.
Laws in this guide
Ask about your situation
Tell us what is going on and we will answer from the law this guide relies on.