An ‘Integrated’ Approach to Injury and RTW

At General Electric the focus is on an integrated approach to worker injuries and return to work (RTW). By “integrated,” GE means that whether someone is injured on or off the job, the company coordinates the employee’s healthcare and wage-replacement benefits while they are out of work recovering. The integrated approach also means helping injured workers access the best medical care and, when they are ready, helping them return to a safe and productive work environment.

The move to an integrated program came as GE attempted to streamline the disability-benefits process. The company discovered that personal disability absences (rather than work-related injuries) accounted for approximately two-thirds of the total days away from work. The goal of integration was not just to reduce cost, but also to enhance productivity, so providing equal access for early RTW, regardless of benefit pay type, was critical.

A designated individual at each GE jobsite assesses the functional requirements of the job and compares those to the capabilities of the worker. This may be completed by a disability specialist, an HR manager, EHS professional, or occupational-health nurse. In cases where transitional work is indicated, GE seeks to limit its duration to 6 weeks, with a maximum of 12. Biweekly assessments track the employee’s functional capacity.

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Is your workers’ comp and RTW policy effective? Do you even have one? If not, we do, and they’re already written and ready to use, along with every other safety policy you’re likely to need, in BLR’s Essential Safety Policies. Examine it at no cost and with no obligation to purchase. Get details here.

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Lessons Learned

Among lessons GE learned in establishing its integrated disability and RTW program:

• Ensure that supervisors adhere to a worker’s restrictions during the transitional work period to avoid further injury.
• Assess workers during their first days back and frequently thereafter to determine how things are going and what additional modifications may be needed.
• Keep in mind the value of simple modifications. For example, if someone can’t lift more than 40 pounds, find a way for two people to do the lift instead of one.
• Make sure supervisors who are helping to return employees to the job respect their privacy rights. It’s all right to focus on function (what a worker can do relative to job requirements), but it’s not all right to ask specific questions about illness, disability, etc.
• Consider the RTW needs of those with diverse conditions, such as mental health issues or cancer treatment.
• Focus on the unique needs of the employee and the worksite to identify the optimal solution.

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Get the safety policies you need without the work. They’re in BLR’s Essential Safety Policies program. Try it at no cost and no risk. Find out how.

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Get the Policies You Need

It is essential that you have a policy to deal with workers’ compensation and return-to-work issues in your workplace. The BLR publication Essential Safety Policies dedicates a comprehensive section to these critical issues. You’ll find information about the points you should cover in your policy, legal issues, and a long list of things to consider when you develop or revise your workers’ compensation policy.

Essential Safety Policies  also provides you with a sample workers’ comp policy and four additional or alternative policies, all of which you can use “as is” or adapt to your organization’s particular needs and style.

Take these kinds of materials and multiply them by more than 2 dozen key safety topics, and you’ll know why Essential Safety Policies is such a valuable tool for busy safety professionals. These policies provide a ready-to-modify or use-as-is safety handbook for all your workers with minimal effort on your part.

The policies are backed by a tutorial on policy writing and essential materials, such as handbook receipts. A CD version is also available.

If your organization could benefit from supplementing (or perhaps having for the first time) a complete set of ready-to-use safety policies, we highly recommend a 30-day, no-cost, no-obligation look at this program. Go here and we’ll be pleased to send it to you.

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