>> rationale
IM as a win-win solution...
The effectiveness of Injury Management practices for insurers/self insurers is now an integral component of compliance in each state and critical to the successful return to work of injured workers.
Injury Management requires:
- A system/model
- People and resources
- Evaluation, measuring and monitoring the effectiveness of
the system
Your Business has a social and economic interest in ensuring that workers return to work safely and as soon as possible following a workplace injury or illness. The longer an injured worker has to wait for assistance the less likely it is to be effective. Hence, early return to work (rehabilitation) is a central feature of the workers compensation system.
Effective Injury Management relies on the cooperative efforts of all participants – the employer, employees, RTWC, insurer/ self insurer, doctors, and other health professionals. The key principles underlying the safe and early return to work of injured workers include:
- The need to have systems in place to ensure everyone at the workplace agrees, understands and knows what to do in the event of an injury
- Early reporting of injuries and early intervention
- The workplace being the most effective place for the majority of workers to recover from their injury
- All parties working in consultation.
Successful implementation of an Injury Management system will enable employees with an injury or illness to return to work as quickly and as safely as possible. Work related injuries, illnesses and fatalities not only exert financial, legal, social and industrial pressure on employers but also cause significant social, financial and psychological upset for the injured employees and their family members.
Effective and efficient Injury Management is an integral part of Occupational Health and Safety .Through cooperation with and active involvement of management, supervisors and employees Your Business can ensure a commitment to continually improve its Injury Management System.
The benefits to Your Business in implementing such a program are the following:
- When injuries occur in Your Business, the prognosis is translated to a loss of trained workers.
- To the injured employees it means coping with the prospect of long-term, poor physical health with a possibility of reduced income.
When an Injury Management system is developed and implemented, the people and resources are provided there are benefits to the employee and the employer.
The positive benefits for employees are that the rate of recovery is much faster, the employee’s ability to perform useful and fully productive work during their recovery period, and at their former workplace, enhances their self esteem and has a positive therapeutic approach.
The benefits to the employer include a general increase in workplace morale (the successful operation of the company’s injury prevention and rehabilitation program helps bring about a supportive work environment); the return of valuable and trained workers to useful employment; and a considerable reduction in the insurable and uninsurable hidden costs of an injury.