Best Practices in Return-to-Work Programs

In a BLR webinar entitled "Workers’ Compensation: 30 Can’t-Miss Program Tips in 60 Minutes," Deborah Cordes, Senior Claims Manager at Medtronic Inc., with 20 years experience in risk management, presented these best practice tips for workers’ compensation programs.

• Create return-to-work (RTW) opportunities by looking at things slightly differently. For example, rather than relying on position descriptions, watch people doing their jobs and create a video library of tasks performed. Film tasks where injuries are most likely, showing the motions workers do while making the product. Videos should focus on movement, specify repetitions, be no longer than 15 minutes, and be updated when jobs change. These videos can assist the doctor in identifying tasks that the worker can do upon returning to work.

• Tell employees that healing is their job and that the company will keep them at work if at all possible. Let them know this is not an optional program and that you will work on getting them back to work as soon as possible.

• Send returning workers a letter explaining the alternate duty work they are to perform and what will be expected of them.

• Communicate your RTW policy annually to both employees and supervisor/managers. Educate them about how the program works and what is expected.

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• Your RTW program should be both flexible and consistent, tailored to each individual. A physical therapist should be on site at the point of return to work to focus on body mechanics and restrictions. Restrictions should be updated periodically.

• Slow down the process for complex injuries. For example, start the employee back 2 hours a day. Start slow, add tasks back in, and then increase hours. Use physical therapy at 1/30/60 days to ensure proper body mechanics.

RTW Policy

In the same webinar, Randy Devaul, principal of Brickhouse of NY, Inc. and founder of Global Performance Seminars, presented these practical policy tips to strengthen your RTW program.

• Make sure your RTW policy is written. For the policy to function effectively, it must be in your policy manual.

• Provide restricted or light duty based on the treating physician’s prescribed treatment plan. The plan should be specific about limitations so that you can provide appropriate work based on those restrictions. Make sure employees, supervisors, and managers follow your policy and abide by restrictions.

• Since you don’t want restricted duty to become permanent, it’s important for your policy to include a requirement for monitoring treatment. Check every 30 days to make sure there is improvement. If there’s no improvement after 30 days, either the treatment isn’t working or the employee is milking it.

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Get Your Workers Thinking Safety

While it’s important to have an effective RTW program, it’s even better not to need to use it. You can do that by preventing accidents and injuries in the first place.

That’s where OSHA Accident Case Studies can help. Animated, customizable PowerPoint slides tell real-life case studies of actual industrial accidents from OSHA files, complete with accident photos to get workers’ attention and make your safety meetings come alive.

OSHA Accident Case Studies includes 25 meetings on all key safety topics.

Even your most skeptical workers will see what can go wrong and become safety-minded employees. They’ll learn valuable safety training lessons from real mistakes—but in classroom training meetings instead of on your shop floor.

You get:

• 25 case study meetings on key OSHA topics
• Customizable visuals and text
• Fast moving, animated PowerPoint presentations
• Detailed speaker’s notes for every slide
• Printable handouts, quizzes, and slides for each topic
• Interactive exercises and questions

Safety topics include:

—Back safety
—Power tools
—Hazard communication
—Lockout/tagout
—Fire safety
—Hearing protection
—Confined spaces
—Trenching and excavation
—HAZWOPER
—Ergonomics
—And more!

We’ll be happy to make OSHA Accident Case Studies available for a no-cost, no-obligation, 30-day evaluation in your office. Just let us know, and we’ll be pleased to arrange it.