There is an ever-increasing focus in Australia on the cost of workers compensation to employers and the community. For some time now the control of costs has been seen in two main areas -

1. Prevention of injuries
2. Effective injury management

Injury Management is a relatively new term which has replaced the older rehabilitation terminology but what does it mean and does it differ in practice?

The term Injury Management is generally considered to go beyond simple rehabilitation and encompass the overall culture of the organisation and the intertwining of internal and external personnel, experiences and influences.

An injury management program consists of six main components -

• An injury reporting system
• A treatment network
• An Injury Management Co-ordinator
• Return to work case management
• An awareness program to gain and maintain commitment
• Benchmarking performance

Check out your injury management system against the following -

Is your system -

• Simple and easy to use
• Well communicated and understood by supervisors and employees
• Effective in obtaining immediate reporting
• Providing immediate action on receipt of report

Do you have a treatment network that is -

• Attractive to individual employees
• Providing professional treatment using state of the art experience and training
• Accessible to your organisation
• Willing to visit your worksite to become familiar with the operations
• Available at times convenient to your activity

Is your injury management co-ordinator -

• Respected at all levels in the organisation
• Provided with the authority to approve activities to maximise injury management potential
• Knowledgable in Workers Compensation management procedures
• Skilled in communication
• A good 'detail person' regarding records
• Pragmatic and commercial

Is your return to work case management process -

• Written down with standard formats
• Strictly confidential where appropriate
• Regularly audited by internal or external personnel
• Ensuring good communication by detailing contact frequency and type
• Maintaining open communications with the injured worker

Do you have an awareness program that gains the commitment of management, supervisors and employees. Aspects of such a program may include -

• Injury management performance indicators as part of key performance indicators
• Allocation of costs to cost centres
• Training for all staff
• Provision of feedback to involved persons

Do you measure the performance of your injury management system?

Indicators of performance may include -

• Delay between date of injury and date of report
• Delay between date of report and report to insurer
• Delay between date of injury and appointment to treatment network
• Delay between date of injury and return to work or transitional duties or normal duties
• Durability of return to work

Qualitative indicators of performance can also be used including -

• Climate surveys
• Interviews

RiskChase consultants can assist in enhancing your program in all of these areas.

For further details contact us on enquiries@riskchase.com.au