After discussing accident prevention and strategies to contain claims costs last week, we now go to the “Return to Work Programs” part of the Compensation chapter of our Safety Manual. You know by now that these are literal excerpts of the manual. The good thing about the Safety Manual is that it can be customized an assembled to follow the specifications of your company. If you want to do just that you can visit our company website for more information.
After an employee has recovered from injuries and is allowed to go back to work, it is still important to properly monitor and manage the employee’s program. This makes sure that the employee is continuously recuperating while still contributing to the company.
Return to Work Programs
Current studies of Workers’ Compensation claims show that companies with an effective return to work program in place have substantially reduced their insurance costs and overall operating expenses while contributing to productivity. Return to work programs allows companies to exert positive influences in reducing the length of time injured workers are unproductive.
The primary goal of a return to work program is to accommodate injured workers by identifying or modifying jobs to meet their capabilities and returning them to productive assets as quickly as possible.
The main objectives of a return to work program include:
- Accelerating an employee’s return to work by addressing the physical, emotional, attitudinal, and environmental factors that otherwise inhibits a prompt return.
- Facilitating temporary or permanent job reassignment or job restructuring.
- Reducing the time of an employee’s disability.
- Reducing the number of cases entering into the Workers’ Compensation litigation system.
- Increasing productivity by returning workers to their jobs as quickly as possible.
- Increasing worker morale and motivation at work.
- Complying with applicable labor and employment laws such as the “Americans with Disabilities Act”.
- Identifying alternative employment opportunities to accommodate unique needs of workers such as part-time, alternative work schedules, or work-at-home.
Successful return to work programs often incorporate a multi-disciplinary team approach involving the Company’s management team, the managed care provider, and the insurance carrier’s claims adjuster. This team concept is critical to achieve the above stated objectives.
Elements of a “Return to Work Program” include:
- Management Commitment — Management must be committed to returning injured workers to productive roles. This commitment must be translated into specific responsibilities and accountabilities. Performance measures should be established to track the effectiveness of the program.
- Job Profiles — Profiles of existing jobs considered suitable for early return to work should be developed. A profile should define the job in terms of overall physical demands, motions required, environmental conditions, the number of times the job is performed per week, and its duration.
- Job Modification — Systematic analysis of specific jobs for the purpose of modifying them to accommodate the unique needs of the injured worker. Job modifications should be performed by individuals trained and skilled in ergonomic task analysis, engineering, safety and biomechanics. In most cases your managed care provider can assist in your job modification needs.
- Communication of Return to Work Opportunities — The presence of jobs that can accommodate injured workers and your return to work program should be communicated to your managed care provider, claims adjuster, and injured worker. In addition, regular contact with the injured worker, claims adjuster, and managed care provider should occur.
- Changing Needs — Following the successful early return of an injured worker, review the job modifications with the worker to assure they meet his/her needs. Communicate any problems with your job modification team and insurance carrier. Work with your managed care provider and worker to move them to full production status in their assigned jobs as quickly as possible.
Studies show that return to work programs are effective claim cost containment efforts that contribute to production and worker morale.
Check out the very first part of this section by clicking this link.
