Employers’ toolkit to help injured workers return to work

WorkSafe Victoria  has released the employers’ toolkit to help injured workers get back to safe work early. The toolkit, which has templates, checklists and forms that can be customised to suit their needs, was released as a part of WorkSafe’s ‘Return to Work, Return to Life’ campaign.

The kit can be downloaded from WorkSafe’s ‘Return to Work’ website: www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/returningtowork. It would be particularly useful to small to medium-sized businesses and to those that don’t have a lot of experience with workplace injury insurance claims, said Dorothy Frost, WorkSafe’s Return to Work Director.

Around 28,000 Victorian workers are seriously hurt each year. Of that number, more than 3000 do not return to work within six months of being injured. In the past five years, nearly 150,000 Victorians have lodged compensation claims with WorkSafe, totalling more than $2.7 billion in treatment and rehabilitation costs.

“An early return to work reduces claim costs and keeps the cost of a business’s injury insurance premium down,” Frost said. Medical evidence shows the longer someone is off work, the harder it is for them to return and the greater the chance they will suffer adverse health effects.

“It’s important injured workers are given the best possible chance of getting back into the workplace. A successful return to work does not have to mean going straight back into full-time work or the initial position that was originally held - it can be a gradual return or a return to modified duties or even undertaking further training at work while the worker recovers.”

A recent Newspoll survey found 71% of Victorians believe injured workers would benefit from returning to work before being fully recovered and more than 78% believe that by returning to work it would help speed up the recovery process. Other findings of the Newspoll survey include: 96% said families played an important role in helping return to work; 93% said doctors and physiotherapists also played an important role; 68% agreed that returning to work but performing different duties would definitely provide an increased feeling of self-worth; and 78% of people surveyed felt returning to work but performing different duties would help speed up the recovery process.

In an initiative to encourage a progressive and proactive approach to helping injured workers return, WorkSafe is calling on businesses to submit their successful comeback stories in this year’s WorkSafe Awards.