Return to work coordinator profiler

Get to know…

Name: Sue Carpenter

Position: Health & Safety Coordinator | Return To Work Coordinator (RTWC) | Staff Educator

Organisation: Glenelg Community Hospital Inc.

1. Tell us a bit about your role.
My role is diverse as I manage areas of work, health and safety. This provides opportunity to risk manage issues, and where possible, proactively prevent or mitigate injuries.

2. What does an average day look like for you?
Attending meetings or committees, reviewing reports and incidents, implementing controls, planning training, responding to emails, and consulting with key staff and colleagues. I really enjoy how diverse my role is and I also enjoy working collaboratively as a team to effectively and efficiently create a safe workplace.

3. What are the key challenges of your role?
Communication is a challenge. With shift workers and casual staff, ensuring all staff receive the same message is difficult at times. We do have an organisational communication book, but we are all aware that sometimes face to face communication is preferred.

4. What advice would you give to other return to work coordinators?
Take the opportunity to attend training provided on the RTWC role. Issues you are having may be discussed and recommendations will be suggested, because often other organisations are having similar issues. The online resources are also worth viewing.

5. What’s been your best experience as a return to work coordinator?
Meeting other professionals who also want the best outcome for the injured worker.

6. What hobbies do you enjoy in your spare time?
I enjoy a variety of different hobbies, some include: reading, cooking, walking the dog, and spending time with family and friends.

7. Dead or alive, who would you like to meet and what would you say to them?
Albert Einstein. I appreciate his quotes and inquiring mind and I’ll take the opportunity to mention two of them. I heard one of these mentioned in the 'Minds in Motion' seminar organised by SafeWork SA and ReturnToWorkSA.

“Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”

And I would like to tell him how much I appreciated his view on life and work, and ask about his motivation and who the key people in his life were.