Section 39 of the 1971 Act provides for lump-sum compensation for certain losses specified in S39(4) of that Act, e.g. loss of an arm at or above the elbow, loss of a hand, loss of a ring finger. By S39(12), the loss of a specified part of the body includes 'the total loss of the efficient use of that part of the body' (LOEU) for the purposes of employment.
Section 39(11) of the 1971 Act further provides that a partial loss of the efficient use of a part of the body is compensated in an amount equivalent to the percentage of LOEU.
Subsections 39(11) and (12) of the 1971 Act state:
39(11) The compensation payable under this Act in respect of an injury resulting in partial loss by an employee of the efficient use of a part of the body specified in Subsection (4) or of the efficient use of such a part of the body for the purposes of the employment of the employee immediately before the injury, not being a loss referred to in Subsection (6), (7), (9) or (10), is such percentage of the amount of compensation that would be payable under Subsection (3) in respect of an injury resulting in the loss by the employee of that part of the body as is:
a) the percentage by which the injury resulted in the efficient use, immediately before the injury, of that part of the body being reduced, or
b) the percentage by which the injury resulted in the efficient use, immediately before the injury, of that part of the body for the purposes of the employment of the employee immediately before the injury being reduced,
whichever is the greater percentage.
39(12) A reference in this section to the loss by an employee of a specific part of the body shall be read as including a reference to:
a) the total loss of the efficient use of that part of the body, and
b) the total loss of the efficient use of that part of the body for the purposes of his employment immediately before the injury that resulted in the loss.