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Results

Managers are generally aware of the injury management process but may not always fully commit to the function (especially if other things come up to distract them). There is an understanding of the management role in the system but they do not always participate.

The return to work coordinator may also have another position and when time is limited for the return to work function it can be put to the side in favour of the substantive role. This can send a message to workers that management of their injuries is not important to the business.

Some managers may feel that managing the return to work of their direct reports is not their job and this can lead to poor return to work outcomes as well as other cultural issues.

Next steps

1. Make sure your managers and staff are completely clear with their role in recovery and return to work. This can be accomplished by training (or re-training), regular updates at team meetings or other initiatives promoting injury management.
2. Make sure senior managers are always involved in activities or meetings to make it clear that injury management is important to the business.
3. Make sure your return to work coordinator has enough time to properly perform the role. This will vary from business to business but in general the coordinator themselves will be able to let you know if they have enough time. You can also check your injury statistics and speak to your managers and workers about their experiences with the system.
4. Encourage managers to “walk the talk” and assist them with any concerns. Make sure that you do not simply take away responsibility but rather help the managers to fulfil their role though extra training or other assistance. The return to work coordinator can assist with this.

Results

You have a consultative mechanism in place but it may be incomplete or undocumented. You may inform your staff of new processes but this is done informally and you do not have a formal mechanism in place to receive and consider feedback. Even if you do engage your staff, without formal documentation it is difficult to ensure that all required consultation occurs and that the process is consistent and fair.

Whilst you do involve staff in major decisions you may not consult in other aspects of your business or provide a forum for regular feedback. You may not let people know that you do consider their feedback resulting in a lower level of engagement. This can be remedied by providing information on what has been received and giving feedback on the process.

In the case of the injury management process it is important that workers and managers are fully involved in the return to work process and that decisions are made considering all parties views. Above all the process must be transparent and fair to all parties.

Next steps

1. Make sure that you introduce a clear and simple consultation procedure based on the principles of transparency and inclusion. If you do not have a formal procedure in place you may not always consult when you should and having a procedure shows that you have a consistent and fair process in place. It also allows you to properly measure the effectiveness of your consultative process.
2. Ensure that employees are consulted about any decision or change that may affect them. This includes involvement in the injury management and return to work process.
3. Make sure your employees know that you consider and value their opinions. This can be done via team meetings, notices or other communications that show what feedback/suggestions have been made and what consideration has been given to them. You may consider formal recognition of particularly good feedback or suggestion.
4. Integrate injury management consultation into your existing consultation procedures/practices.

Results

You probably do not have an adequate training program. In relation to injury management this can mean that your worker’s are unaware of your early return to work policy, their responsibilities to report injuries and disclose information or your expectations of behaviours.

In addition your line managers (supervisors) will most likely not be aware of the importance of their roles and consider that return to work and management of injuries is not their responsibility. This will invariably lead to lengthier periods of time off of work (for even relatively minor injuries) and can also create a general level of dissatisfaction amongst the workforce.

It will be difficult for you to enforce your business code of conduct or behavioural expectations if you do not provide adequate training for your staff which may mean your general work culture and climate will be negative.

Next steps

1. Perform a simple training needs analysis for your employees. This can be as simple as creating a spreadsheet that lists all of your business roles/tasks with a list of the skills required to perform the tasks. You should include a knowledge of your safety and injury management procedures in this. You could then consult with your employees to determine what skills and knowledge they have and cross reference this against your skill matrix. This will help you to understand the training gaps within the business which you can begin to address systematically. This method will ensure that all training is covered but just as importantly is relevant to your business.
2. Make sure that injury management/early return to work is part of your standard induction program.
3. Make sure that you keep training current. In the case of injury management you may wish to have injury management as an agenda item for team meetings or you may diarise regular updates to training as part of your training matrix (above).
4. It is important to keep records of what you have done. This will prevent double-ups of training and also will be a vital part of any disciplinary or SafeWork SA activity. It is also a legislative requirement.

Results

It is likely that you have no early intervention process or a limited one. This does not mean that you do not care about your employees or that you never provide duties – simply that you do not have a systematic approach to early intervention.

An important aspect of injury management is integration into your normal business process. Where the response to an injury is “I am too busy to deal with that now” or where your response is to await what the agent does you are dramatically increasing the likelihood of longer periods of time off of work and increasing your overall risk as workers that are so inclined will know this and you may develop a culture of claim = time-off. This can be avoided by implementing and managing an injury management system.

Next steps

1. Design and implement an early intervention system. This is a simple process of writing out your expectations and describing the roles and responsibilities of all employees. Your procedure should contain tight timeframes for reporting of injury and protocols for workers, supervisors and the return to work coordinator to follow. The procedure should also include your commitment to return to work and how you will communicate this and the availability of duties to the employee’s treating doctor. You may also include details on preferred medical providers if applicable (refer below).
2. Include supervisors as the first contact and provide training and authority for them to be the “frontline” for early intervention and return to work. Your supervisors are in a position to know the employees, what jobs are available and how an injured worker is coping with duties. It makes sense to rely on them for ensuring the return to work process is working.
3. Remember the injured employee. Make sure they are involved in all aspects of the process and are kept informed.
4. Always provide alternative duties where at all possible. Remember that in a vast majority of cases alternative duties are temporary in nature and you do not need to restructure your entire business to accommodate them. The benefits in the reduction of time lost and claim costs far exceed the inconvenience of providing work for a little while.
5. Where it is practical to do so develop a relationship with a nearby clinic. Invite doctors to meet you and tour the worksite. This will assist in identification of duties and will reduce the instance of time lost due to doctors being unaware of what workers do.

Results

You have a formal system in place but it may not be fully integrated into your other business systems. In practice your documents are well controlled but it may be that there is not restricted access and there may be some doubling up of procedures or unauthorised editing. You may informally review incidents but there is no systematic approach to analysis and addressing of emerging trends.

You may not have a robust system of internal audit or the audit may not be used properly to address system and practice issues. Your system of goal and KPI setting may not be sophisticated or properly targeted based on your own business needs.

Next steps

1. Consider your business structure and how it operates. Integrate your injury management into your other systems. Make injury management part of what you do rather than a legislative obligation.
2. Set goals, targets and KPIs for your injury management system and make sure you report on them regularly. The frequency of reporting will be dependent on the size of the business but should ideally be no less than quarterly. Review your goals annually based on previous and desired performance and never set goals that you cannot achieve. Remember KPIs are there to let you know that there may be a problem developing and to allow you to make adjustments before issues become big.
3. When you identify issues or set programs to reduce injuries/incidents place your actions on an action plan. This will assist management with ensuring required actions are completed and provide a record of actions and time taken to address issues. They can also assist with making sure actions are consistent with business requirements and that accountabilities are maintained.