When an employee is out of work due to an injury or illness, it’s in everyone’s best interest to get that person back on the job safely and as soon as possible..
For employers, an effective return-to-work program can reduce workers’ compensation costs and improve employee morale and productivity. For employees, returning to work can help them feel engaged and useful and motivate them to participate in an active recovery from injury.
Steps for Success
- Develop a return-to-work policy to ensure a consistent approach.
- Establish a central point of contact for the injured employee. This can be someone from the safety department, a human resources professional, or a dedicated return-to-work coordinator.
- Contact the injured employee and start an interactive process. Express your personal concern for the employee’s health and well-being. Describe the return-to-work process or let the employee know that someone will be in touch promptly with essential information about getting the case filed. Stay in touch and be available to answer the injured worker’s questions, or find someone who can.
- Provide information to the treating physician about the injury and the job. Include details about the incident, the employee’s job description and specific requirements, and your return-to-work policy.
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- Research and evaluate possible accommodations, keeping in mind the needs of the employee and the organizations. Consider options like part-time, telecommuting, modified work duties, providing time off for medical appointments, and implementing reasonable accommodations. Share this information with the employee and, working with human resources and other appropriate departments, recommend a reassignment.
- Establish a timetable for return to work.
- Encourage and support the employee’s recovery. Talk with the treating physician about adjusting restrictions as the employee’s condition improves. Continue to communicate with the employee, the physician, and other relevant departments throughout the recovery process.
Keep Your Workers on the Job
Of course, preventing injuries and illness that cause lost workdays is always the best approach. And we can help you do that. At Safety.BLR.com,you’ll find the information you need to prevent workplace accidents and injuries. And we’re open for business 24/7 for your convenience.
Whether it’s information about workers’ comp programs, OSHA regulation and enforcement, or news about critical safety and health issues that affect your workplace, you’ll find it all reported and interpreted for you by our safety experts at Safety.BLR.com.
What’s more, this one-stop safety website is a fantastic resource for safety training materials on just about any topic you can imagine.
Training responsibilities become a snap with the website’s thousands of audio presentations, PowerPoints, prewritten safety meetings, toolbox talks, trainer’s guides, and much, much more. You’ll find training tools on more than 120 safety topics along with plain-English compliance analysis and other resources.
Your one-stop safety management resource, available 24/7. Go here to take a no-cost site tour or here to try it in your own office!
At a time when budget considerations are paramount, what makes more sense than an all-in-one safety training and compliance solution?
And BLR has revamped Safety.BLR.com to meet your needs even better. You’ll be amazed by all the features and functionality of the site. Highlights include:
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We’re pretty excited about Safety.BLR.com and all of its enhancements, and we’re eager for you to experience it, too. That’s why we’ve created a complimentary site tour, available here. It takes just 5 minutes.
If you like what you see, you’re invited to try the site at no cost and with no obligation. We’ll even give you a complimentary special report for doing so. Go here to take a 5-minute tour of Safety.BLR.com. It may be just what you’re looking for.