Return-to-Work Program Assessment

Carolynn Meginbir Prevention Consultant WCB

Vision Statement

In serving injured workers and employers, we excel in the development and delivery of workers’ compensation programs and services.

In serving all workers and employers, we develop and deliver injury prevention programs and services that move Saskatchewan quickly to zero workplace injuries.

While the number of time loss claims have been going down, the average duration of those claims remains significant.

Claim Durations YEAR 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

# Time Loss injury rate (per 100 workers)

3.70 3.44 3.12 3.05 2.79 2.54

# Time Loss claims

13,093 12,141 11,574 11,516 10,774 10,116

Average duration of claims (days)

33.11 34.10 34.67 34.44 38.89 34.88

Claims Management • Safety Management System

– Proactive way of reducing both the human and the financial impact of injury

• Return-to-Work Program – Once injury has occurred RTW is the next

best way to reduce the human and financial impact of injury

Benefits of RTW RTW reduces the “human impact” of injury and can assist in reducing the potential for secondary conditions – both physical and psychological - from developing:

• Depression

• Substance abuse problems

• Anxiety • Helplessness

• Loss of muscle tone

• Loss of motivation

• Loss of confidence

• Weight gain

Potential for: • Change in habits

• Sleeping • Drinking • Smoking • Eating

• Lowered activity levels • Reliance on others/ helplessness • Self-esteem/ self-identity issues

Injured Workers at Risk

Other Benefits of RTW

Helps maintain: • Occupational bond between the employer and

the worker • Social contacts with co-workers • In addition, productive work gets done • This reduces the chances of needless and

prolonged disability from occurring

RTW can have an impact upon the premiums an employer pays the WCB and can improve its “experience rating”

• If an employer is above the injury average and costs of its industry rate code an additional charge can be added to its base premium.

• Employers who have an injury average and costs lower than their industry can qualify for a discount.

RTW Benefits: Financial Impact

RTW and Experience Rating System

Return-to-work influences claims costs and can help:

• Reduce the possibility of a surcharge • Reduce the amount of a surcharge • Increase the possibility of a discount • Increase the amount of a discount

Experience rating information: employer cost statements 16C1 report/s, rate setting letters Also available through employer online accounts

RTW Program verses a RTW Plan • A RTW program is a planned process to manage the impact of disability in a workplace. A RTW program has many elements, including policies, procedures, responsibility statements and forms, etc.

• A RTW plan is a planned process to manage the impact of one individual injured worker’s disability. A RTW plan is one component of an overall program and is developed following program policies and procedures

• A RTW program assessment is an in-depth examination of an employer’s program and includes an examination – as one part of the assessment – of individual RTW plans

RTW Program Assessment An assessment is an objective evaluation of an employer’s return-to-work system and compares that system against established standards.

The purpose of an assessment is to determine if any gaps exist between an employer’s system and the standards in order to identify areas of program improvement.

An assessment is a snapshot in time.

The assessment only focuses on RTW within the context of the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board’s system.

RTW Program Assessment Sections

The RTW assessment measures:

• Senior management commitment • Pre- RTW planning procedures • RTW planning procedures • RTW program communication • RTW program evaluation

• RTW policy statement o I.e. Has it been signed, dated, communicated? Does

it reflect the organization’s values/philosophy? Set broad expectations?

• RTW program objectives o I.e. Are the objectives specific, measurable, time

specific, communicated, regularly reviewed?

• RTW program roles and responsibilities o I.e. Have RTW responsibilities been defined for each

workplace party – managers, supervisors, workers?

Senior Management Commitment

• Identifying alternate work options o I.e. is there a process for identifying and reviewing

alternate work options? Is there a pre-defined list of potential work options? Are they appropriate to the employer’s most common types of injuries?

• Job Information Worksheets (JIWs) /Physical Demands Assessments o I.e. has a JIW’s purpose and uses been defined? Is

there a process specifying how JIWs are completed? Reviewed? Are there completed JIWs for key operational jobs?

Pre RTW Planning Practices/Procedures

• Medical restrictions form

• RTW plan development/determining RTW work

• RTW plan documentation

• RTW plan implementation

• Monitoring RTW plans

Focuses on reviewing WCB claim RTW plan records

RTW Plan Procedures/Practices

• Medical Restrictions o Has the organization developed its own form?

Defined the form’s purpose? Outlined completion processes? Etc.

• RTW Plan Development o Has the employer defined what it considers suitable

RTW work? What types of work and where will an employer look for suitable work? Who identifies suitable work? Are RTW plans being submitted to the WCB? Etc.

RTW Planning Procedures

• RTW Plan Documentation o Is there a standardized plan form? Are work

options specific? Is it clear work options match the medical restrictions of the injured worker? Etc.

• RTW Plan Implementation o Does the organization maintain confidentiality of

medical information? Has the employer defined what to do if there is a problem with a plan? Have coworkers been informed of the RTW on how it may affect them? Etc.

RTW Planning Procedures

• Monitoring RTW Plans o Has someone been assigned the responsibility to

monitor RTW plans? o Are plans being monitored? o To what standards? o Are problems being addressed?

RTW Planning Procedures

• RTW Information o Has the organization outlined training

requirements? o Does the organization keep training records to

ensure compliance to its own training requirements?

o Is RTW information housed in an easily accessible location for relevant staff?

RTW Communication

• RTW Program Review and Revision o Has the organization specified a regular review of

its RTW program? Assigned responsibilities? Specified what aspects of the program it will evaluate?

o Are the reviews occurring as intended? o Are RTW program improvements being

implemented?

RTW Program Evaluation

• RTW program documentation review o Reviews the employer’s RTW policies, written

procedures, standardized forms or checklists, training materials, etc.

o Reviews RTW program records such as documented individual RTW plans, training records, completed checklists, etc.

• RTW interviews o Managers o Supervisors o Workers

RTW Program Assessment Process

• Assessment report o Scoring o Recommendation/s to address any program

element deficiency o Executive summary

The report can serve as a framework for the development of an improvement project plan or action plan

Assessment Report

65% is the benchmark which distinguishes between an employer who has some RTW Plan practices and procedures in place and an employer with a RTW Program

Assessment Scoring

Best practices in RTW management 90 – 100% Well developed RTW Program 75 – 89% Basic RTW Program 65 – 74% RTW Plan practices in place 35 – 64% Willing to return workers to alternate/modified work 0 – 34%

Pre-assessment activities: o Allocate a room for document review and

interviews o Assemble or arrange access to all relevant

documents for assessor o Schedule worker, supervisor and manager

interviews o Designate an on-site ‘contact’ person that will

be available to the assessor for each day of the audit

What is involved in an assessment?

On site activities: o Opening meeting o Document review o Staff interviews o Closing meeting

What is involved in an assessment?

Call to discuss Prevention Managers

• Annette Goski (Regina 306/787-4141) • Jack Hardy (Saskatoon 306/964-1331)

Account Managers • Scott Coghlan – Rate codes: D, M, R • Catherine Fuchs – Rate codes B, G • Carolynn Meginbir – Rate Codes A, C, T, U • John Weigel – Rate Codes G22, S • Brad Compton – Youth Account Manager, all rate codes

Do you have a RTW program you wish to have assessed?

Attend an “Effective RTW Workshop”: • Two day course, includes RTW program development

binder, templates and CD with supporting resources

o Suitable for organizations who have already committed to the development of a RTW program or overhauling an existing program

o Suitable only for those specific individuals in the organization developing the RTW program or revision process back at their workplaces, often Human Resources Personnel

No RTW program to assess but would like to develop one?