OHS SOS [Hazards
99, August 2007]
A decent occupational health service (OHS) should is a real asset. It
can troubleshoot health problems and it can help rehabilitate the sick
or injured and accommodate those with disabilities. But OHS are rare
and good ones rarer still. Simon Pickvance and Rory O’Neill
spell out how to get the service you deserve. more
Safety on a sick note
[Hazards 89, February 2005]
Britain is not a "sickie" nation, latest research has proved. But attendance
records would be better still if more employers took rehabilitation
seriously, says Doug Russell, health and safety officer of retail union
Usdaw.
For the full story order Hazards 89
Britain: Severe injury payout funds essential rehab
A £340,000 compensation payout to a roofer severely injured in a workplace fall will fund an intensive rehabilitation and physiotherapy programme. Timothy Kirk, 42, fell 45 feet through a skylight while at work. He was knocked unconscious and left in a coma for 11 days after the incident in October 2000, suffering a fractured pelvis, fractured femur and numerous head and facial injuries and having to undergo a tracheotomy to aid his breathing, as well as three operations on his stomach to reduce internal injuries.
Irwin Mitchell news release • Risks 500
Hazards news, 2 April 2010
Britain: TUC spells out how to get rehab right
Rehabilitation of sick or injured workers needs the right services available at the right time and an understanding of the particular job and needs of the affected worker, a new TUC guide says.
Rehabilitation: A short guide to the evidence, TUC, June 2009 • Risks 412
Hazards news,
27 June 2009
Britain: Rehab industry issues voluntary code
A voluntariy guidelines have been produced with the aim of cleaning up the private rehabilitation industry. TUC said proper regulation of the industry would be more effective than voluntary guidelines.
UK Rehabilitation Council standards • BBC News Online • Risks 408
Hazards news,
30 May 2009
Britain:
Government plans in need of rehabilitation
Government efforts to get the long-term sick off benefits and back to
work risk being undermined by low levels of rehabilitation support in
the workplace, according to a survey. The Chartered Institute of Personnel
and Development’s (CIPD) Annual Absence Management Survey 2008
found over a third (36 per cent) of employers offer no rehabilitation
support.
Risks
366
Hazards news, 26 July 2008
Australia: Union treatment
on return to work
An Australian union body has created its own dedicated unit to help
injured workers back to work. The Victorian Trades Hall Council’s
(VTHC) Return to Work Unit was created “to challenge the barriers
that stop injured workers returning to full and meaningful employment.”
VTHC
news release • OHS
Reps website
Hazards news, 17 November 2007
Britain:
Insurers call for tax breaks for work rehab
ABI, the body representing insurers, has called for new tax incentives
to improve the UK’s poor record on rehabilitating employees who
are injured or fall ill in the workplace.
Risks 258, 27 May 2006
Britain:
Preventing sickness absence becoming job loss
A new Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guide for safety and other trade
union representatives “suggests ways in which you can work in
partnership with employers and the workers you represent to help prevent
illness, injury and disability leading to prolonged sickness absence
and job loss.”
Risks * Number 216 * 23 July 2005
Britain:
Bosses say they want to help the sick back to work
Most employers say they take measures to help sick workers reintegrate
to the workplace, according to a new report published by DWP. Almost
all employers interviewed allowed employees to return to work on reduced
hours to ease their return, gradually building up the number of hours
worked over time.
Risks 188, 24 December 2004
Britain:
Government backs GP-based work health advisers
The government has announced a new scheme to place employment advisers
in GPs surgeries.
Risks 186, 11 December 2004
Britain:
Back to work is working says minister
Twice as many people on incapacity benefit return to work when they
have access to the government's pilot "Pathways to Work" schemes,
according to a new report.
Risks 185, 4 December 2004
Britain
Healthier approach to work sickness
A drive to help people who become ill to stay in their jobs and to prevent
them leaving the workforce prematurely has been announced by the government.
Risks
180, 30 October 2004
USA
Message to injured workers - adapt or adios
US autoworkers' union UAW has negotiated schemes placing injured workers
in new or modified jobs. The pick of the bunch is the Accommodating
DisAbled People in Transition program (ADAPT) programme in place at
auto giants General Motors and Delphi.
Risks
151, 10 April 2004
Britain
The importance of being rehabilitated
As part of TUC's evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee
on the work of HSE/C, the TUC has produced a detailed briefing on the
importance of rehabilitation.
Risks
151, 10 April 2004 • Full
TUC rehabilitation briefing
New Zealand
What is early return to work?
Worksafe
reps
Ist stop database
Primary care occupational health service SOHAS, has published a "1st
stop" online database, making the link between jobs, occupational diseases
and workplace hazards.
SOHAS
Just
clocking on is not on: Safe, decent work for injured workers
Return to work guidance
from AMWU, Australia
Australia
Advice to members - What your doctor needs to know
Victorian
Trades Hall Council news release
Don't write us off
New TUC research will underpin one of its most important campaigns -
the push for a better deal for workplace injury victims. TUC's Owen
Tudor explains.
Don't write us off: People get injured all the time, and nothing
gets done says TUC, Hazards 79, July-September 2002 [pdf
format]
Job retention
Simple measures could reduce the length of
time workers are off sick and could reduce lost income and protect their
jobs, says workers' health specialist Simon Pickvance.
Job retention: Keeping your job when sickness
or injury strikes,
Hazards 79, July-September 2002. To obtain the full text of this article
subscribe
to Hazards
UNISON information sheet on occupational health
schemes
UK Public sector union UNISON says: "Occupational
Health Schemes have a major part to play in preventing ill-health through
work, and UNISON wants to see a greater priority given to them. The
Treasury has recently demanded that public bodies ensure that their
employees have reasonable access to occupational health services. Branches
can use this to ensure that their employer introduces a scheme or reviews
any existing scheme."
UNISON
information sheet
Healthy approaches
Canadian union CAW has produced a Return to work or modified work
checklist. 
Rehabilitating sick workers
Canadian Autoworkers (CAW) has produced a factsheet on rehabilitating
disabled workers
Light duties - who benefits?
Factsheet on how to protect the "walking wounded" from the Canadian
Auto Workers (CAW).
USA Job Accommodation Network
The Job Accommodation Network (JAN) is a free consulting service that
provides information about job accommodations, the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA), and the employability of people with disabilities. The website
includes information on possible work-related conditions, including
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), arthritis, back conditions and
cancer, and has extensive links.
Job Accommodation
Network
JAN
ergonomics in the workplace guide
JAN guide to job accommodation for people with cumulative trauma disorders
(strain
injuries)
|
How to stop the £14 billion workplace
injury drain
There are seven steps employers should take to prevent workplace
injuries and illnesses costing the British economy £14 billion
annually, cut the 14.5 million days of sickness absence a year
caused by work-related illness and injury, and prevent 27,000
workers leaving the workforce permanently every year because of
workplace injury and ill-health, according to TUC research.
Risks
64, 27 July 2002 • TUC
news release
This TUC initiative is based on three Rehabilitation and retention
publications: What
matters is what works - summary; the
view from the workplace - full report; and the
case studies [all pdf format]
TUC WorkSmart
TUC "workSMART" guide on workplace occupational health services,
including return to work agreements, long term sickness absence,
disability and ill-health retirement.
TUC rehabilitation webpage
BRITAIN
Insurers and TUC get rehab
A national action plan is needed to revive Britain's inadequate
rehabilitation services say the Association of British Insurers
(ABI) and the TUC. Delays in treatment, lack of resources and
a disjointed approach mean that the UK lags behind most other
industrialised nations in the help it provides to sick workers.
Risks
91, 1 February 2003
|
What is a Return to Work Plan?
New South Wales Labor Council, Australia OHS NET provides a briefing
on new work rehabilitation procedures in the state.
Rehabilitation adds up
Ready reckoner
The UK Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has
launched a "ready reckoner" for Britain's businesses to help them work
out how much work-related accidents and ill-health is costing them. Sixty
thousand copies of the ready reckoner are being distributed to union safety
reps through the TUC.
Reduce risks -
cut costs: the real costs of accidents and ill-health at work
What it costs to hurt you
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has produced a new
tool to "improve occupational safety and health and to increase the
competitiveness of your business." It allows you to calculate the additional
cash flow that would be generated if the firm invested in specific preventive
measures - a standard "cost-benefit' analysis."
European
Agency news release
Inventory
of socio-economic costs of work accidents.
Summarised in Agency
factsheet 28
Risks
71, 14 September 2002
