---
title: "Check a New South Wales recess injury against section 11"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/check-whether-an-injury-during-an-authorised-break-is-covered/new-south-wales"
type: "task_jurisdiction_version"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "A21-WC20261023-17-NSW"
practice_area: "Personal Injury & Compensation (workers compensation, CTP/TAC, medical negligence)"
tier: "yellow"
lawyer_review: "required"
jurisdictions: ["NSW"]
last_reviewed: "2026-10-25"
---

# Check a New South Wales recess injury against section 11

> From the attendance, the break and the activity, using a firm-controlled tool, table section 11's three conditions. Do not decide abnormal risk, and do not apply the guide to an exempt worker.

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/check-whether-an-injury-during-an-authorised-break-is-covered/new-south-wales  
Last reviewed: 2026-10-25

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Practice area | [Personal Injury & Compensation (workers compensation, CTP/TAC, medical negligence)](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation.md) |
| Human involvement | Yellow: Lawyer and AI draft together |
| How AI is used | From the attendance, the break and the activity, using a firm-controlled tool, table section 11's three conditions. Do not decide abnormal risk, and do not apply the guide to an exempt worker. |
| What the lawyer must review | Decide whether section 11 applies. The worker must have attended that day and been temporarily absent from the place. The absence must be an ordinary recess or authorised, with no voluntary abnormal risk, and the injury during it. Do not treat the guide's balcony example as an appellate rule. Health and wage records stay in a firm-controlled tool. Apply ASCR r 9, APP 11, and the notifiable-breach test. |
| Written for | New South Wales |
| Applies to | [Check whether an injury during an authorised break is covered](https://ailawframework.com/practice/personal-injury-and-compensation/check-whether-an-injury-during-an-authorised-break-is-covered.md) |

## Checking plan

**Verify against sources**

Section 11 deems the injury to arise out of or in the course of employment where the worker attended that day under the contract of service or a training contract, was temporarily absent in an ordinary recess or authorised absence, did not voluntarily take an abnormal risk, and was injured during the absence. The guide reports an arbitrator treating a fall at the place of employment as outside the section, and a balcony foot race as an abnormal risk.

- What the AI does: From the attendance, the break and the activity, using a firm-controlled tool, table section 11's three conditions. Do not decide abnormal risk, and do not apply the guide to an exempt worker.
- What the lawyer does: The lawyer decides the legal question, checks the sources, and authorises anything the family or the insurer will receive.
- Who reviews: Lawyer competent in statutory workers compensation
- Basis: Checked against the linked sources on 23 October 2026. Confirm the current instrument before reliance.

## Checks the lawyer makes

1. Record attendance that day and the contract or training contract.
2. Say whether the absence was an ordinary recess or authorised, and whether the injury was during the absence or at the place of employment.
3. Describe the activity and leave abnormal risk to the lawyer.
4. Stop if the worker is exempt. The exempt recess page was not opened.

## Notes

- If this is lodged with the Personal Injury Commission, Procedural Direction PIC13 keeps health records in a controlled environment and forbids a generative tool from writing a person's evidence.
- The section was read on an AustLII consolidation. Confirm the in-force wording on the official legislation site before reliance.
- The balcony example is the guide's report of an arbitrator's reasons.

## Practical guide

Jurisdiction: New South Wales, Workers Compensation Act 1987, section 11

**Deliverable**: A section 11 note for a non-exempt worker.

**Inputs**

- Attendance at work that day
- The type of break
- Where and how the injury happened
- Whether the worker is exempt

**Example**: Illustrative example: A worker is injured in a foot race on a narrow balcony during a coffee break at the workplace. The note records the guide's two points, place of employment and abnormal risk, as the guide's account. The lawyer decides whether section 11 is open.

**Stop and escalate when**

- The worker is exempt.
- It is not known whether the worker attended work that day.

Checked 2026-10-23.

## Sources

- [AustLII: Workers Compensation Act 1987, section 11](https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/wca1987255/s11.html) (checked 2026-10-23)
- [SIRA claims guide: journey and recess claims](https://www.sira.nsw.gov.au/workers-compensation-claims-guide/understanding-the-claims-journey/eligibility/journey-and-recess-claims) (checked 2026-10-23)

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*