Non-freezing cold injury

Non-freezing cold injury — DVA SoP factors

Every factor in the Repatriation Medical Authority Statements of Principles for Non-freezing cold injury. DVA can only accept a claim for Non-freezing cold injury if at least one of these factors is met and connected to your service. Reasonable Hypothesis (RH) applies to operational service; Balance of Probabilities (BoP) applies to peacetime service.

Source: Repatriation Medical Authority Statements of Principles as held by the Veterans Health Centre. SoPs are amended and replaced regularly; always confirm the current instrument at rma.gov.au before relying on it.

RH No. 5 of 2018 · BoP No. 6 of 20184 factors

Meaning of non-freezing cold injury: For the purposes of this Statement of Principles, non-freezing cold injury: (a) means a disease of the sympathetic nerves and blood vessels affecting the tissues of a limb or limbs, most commonly the foot, due to prolonged exposure of the affected part to wet and non- freezing cold conditions; and (b) excludes tropical immersion foot, chilblains, frostnip and frostbite.

Reasonable Hypothesis (RH) — Statement of Principles No. 5 of 2018

At least one of the following factors must as a minimum exist before it can be said that a reasonable hypothesis has been raised connecting non-freezing cold injury or death from non-freezing cold injury with the circumstances of a person's relevant service:

(1)
exposing the affected limb to moisture and non-freezing temperatures below 21 degrees Celsius, for a period of at least ten hours within the 24 hours before the clinical onset of non-freezing cold injury;
Note: Non-freezing cold injury is most commonly associated with temperatures just above freezing.
Note: Exposure to moisture and non-freezing temperatures may occur during military training or exercises in the outdoors, but are also likely to occur in other circumstances, examples of which include the homeless, those who are intoxicated with alcohol, and those who have poorly controlled psychiatric illness.
(2)
inability to obtain appropriate clinical management for non-freezing cold injury;

Aggravation-only factors: the factors in subsection 9(2) apply only to material contribution to, or aggravation of, the condition where it was suffered or contracted before or during (but did not arise out of) the person’s relevant service.

Balance of Probabilities (BoP) — Statement of Principles No. 6 of 2018

2 factors

At least one of the following factors must exist before it can be said that, on the balance of probabilities, non-freezing cold injury or death from non- freezing cold injury is connected with the circumstances of a person's relevant service:

(1)
exposing the affected limb to moisture and non-freezing temperatures below 21 degrees Celsius, for a period of at least ten hours within the 24 hours before the clinical onset of non-freezing cold injury;
Note: Non-freezing cold injury is most commonly associated with temperatures just above freezing.
Note: Exposure to moisture and non-freezing temperatures may occur during military training or exercises in the outdoors, but are also likely to occur in other circumstances, examples of which include the homeless, those who are intoxicated with alcohol, and those who have poorly controlled psychiatric illness.
(2)
inability to obtain appropriate clinical management for non-freezing cold injury;

Accepted — what is it worth?

A Statement of Principles decides one thing only: whether DVA accepts liability for non-freezing cold injury. It says nothing about how much you are paid. Compensation is worked out separately, from impairment points under the GARP — so a condition can be accepted and still rate few points, or rate more than you expect once it is combined with everything else on your file.