If you are the owner or a manager in a company where there are many risks and hazards prevalent, the following article will be eye-opening for you, as we will discuss the intricacies of injury management.

Definition of injury management

Injury management is a set of coordinated activities that facilitate a durable, timely and safe return to work for employees who have suffered from an injury. A simpler way of describing injury management is that it is the managed process that includes the treatment of the injury, rehabilitation back to work and the management of the compensation claim. The underlying philosophy of this process is that workers should be treated as valuable assets, and their safe return to productive work will only occur if they are allowed to rest and remain connected to the workplace as they are recovering and rehabilitating.

A successful injury management program depends on many factors, including open communication between all stakeholders, actively managing incidents by fostering a proactive instead of reactive environment within the organisation and providing suitable duties that are modified as necessary so that the medical restrictions, physical limitations and abilities of the injured worker are included within the program.

Definition of injury management

Early and appropriate intervention is critical to a fast recovery and effective cost management of all claims. When a planned response is executed, it can be the distinguishing factor of a worker’s return to the organisation. Responses can determine if the worker can stay at work and perform their regular duties in either a pre-injury state or if the duties need to be altered/modified while the injury heals.

In the case that the worker does not require time away from the workplace, an effective program will allow the worker to remain productive and safe as early as possible without compromising on the worker’s health or the quality of work.

Benefits of injury management

There are many benefits to injury management, including:

  • Lowering claim costs by minimising the number and duration of time lost due to injuries, which consequently has a positive impact on experience rating and safe work premiums.
  • Minimising downtime and lost productivity.
  • Enhancing good employer-employee relationships.
  • Ensuring consistent and fair treatment of all injured employees.
  • Contributing to complete and quicker recovery, thereby helping build employee trust in the organisation.
  • Helping workers/employees remain attached to the workplace while simultaneously maintaining good relationships with co-workers, thereby reducing disruption to the individual’s normal daily routine. In other words, preserving a sense of self-worth.
  • Helping workers avoid and mitigate the negative impacts of long-term absences.
  • Minimising the cost required to train replacement workers.
  • Enabling appropriate and effective treatment as well as management of injuries as they occur.
  • Facilitating open, transparent and effective communication between all stakeholders.
Benefits of injury management

Injury management principles

An effective injury management program will optimise results for the claimants and the organisation, ensuring appropriate coordination between different parties so that the injured worker can safely and sustainably return to work. Utilise the following principles as a guide to base your injury management program:

  1. Principle one: Empathy and fairness- Every incident should be undertaken in an empathetic manner to maximise fairness for workers. Begin by ensuring that workers understand their rights, entitlements and responsibilities so that both insurers, scheme participants, and employers know what to expect. Decisions should be made utilising the best available evidence and should focus on advancing the worker’s recovery as well as return to work.
  2. Principle two: Enhanced participation and transparency- Employers, workers and all stakeholders will be empowered and encouraged to participate in the program if it is transparent. This can be done by focusing on timely communication of the reasons and information relied upon for decisions. Communication will ensure the facilitation of the right of reply, prompting a review of decisions and analysis of fairness.
  3. Principle three: Efficiency and timeliness- Decisions are only effective if they are made in a prompt and proactive manner. Effective incident management should be intended to reduce delays and costs while optimising efficiency. Therefore, unnecessary investigations, litigation, and dispute should be avoided through proper planning long before projects begin and the risk of injury occurs. Risk assessment is critical to proactive planning.

To succeed in managing injuries, you can use Edara Systems’ injury management software.

Immediate steps to take after an injury

In the unfortunate event that an employee is injured on your work site/workplace, the first step is to assist the injured employee and prioritise their immediate needs. You must ensure that the employer receives proper medical attention. The second step is to notify the management and other team members, allowing them to take proper steps to ensure that other members are aware of the risk that caused the injury and that safety can be moved forward.

This goes hand-in-hand with securing the scene, as the lesser amount of people there are on the location, the greater chances will be of the scene remaining untouched. This will allow you to gauge an accurate picture of the events that contributed to the incident. Next, you must complete the incident report and implement safety protocols. This will allow you to establish a return-to-work program that enables workers to regain their footing

Conclusion

Edara Systems has many templates available to help you establish a return-to-work program that will allow easy employee rehabilitation in a timely, durable and safe manner.