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WCB Premiums
Modified Work as a Long Term Injury Reduction Strategy
A proactive return to work strategy will pay dividends
that extend far beyond the insurance cost savings. Employers will benefit
from increased employee retention, continued productivity and long term
injury prevention. The key is including modified work in the rehabilitation
process.
Modified work is defined as any position that fulfills
the functional capacity restrictions as identified by a health practitioner.
The WCB identifies the following as criteria for modified work: 1) ability
to accommodate compensable medical restrictions, 2) contributes to physical
rehabilitation, 3) promotes general restoration of pre-accident physical
abilities, 4) contributes to employer productivity and 5) creates no financial
hardship for the injured employee.
Modified work is an effective means of reducing insurance
premiums by returning the injured employee to work as quickly as possible.
Often little consideration is given to the long term rehabilitation process
increasing the risk of re-injury. Ideally, modified work should prevent
de-conditioning and rebuild tolerance for pre-injury activities while
preserving the injured employee's connection to the work environment and
emotional well-being.
Strictly speaking, paperwork is a form of modified work,
but with the addition of the rehabilitation criteria, paperwork on its
own is not a suitable long term modified work solution. The goal of any
modified work program should be to recondition the injured employee back
to pre-injury levels. For example, if the pre-injury position requires
heavy lifting 40% of the time, the modified position should incorporate
lifting activities. In this case, paperwork, while it affords the injured
employee the opportunity to recover, does not aid in the transition from
modified work to regular duties.
Effective modified work programs gradually reintroduce
more challenging physical requirements until the injured employee is able
to return to regular duties. Job stepping means the injured employee will
gradually progress to their pre-injury position by removing restrictions
and increasing the frequency of certain tasks. In conjunction with or
as an alternative to a formal rehabilitation regiment, job stepping continues
until the injured employee has regained his pre-injury levels.
Integrating a comprehensive modified and progressive
return-to work program into your long term rehabilitation and injury reduction
strategy will not only lower the incidence of re-injury, it will also
contribute to employee retention, productivity and marketability.
Designing and Implementing a Progressive Modified Work
Program
Progressive modified work programs, an integral part
of any injury prevention and disability management strategy, focus on
integrating reconditioning activities into modified work duties. Designing
and implementing a progressive modified work program requires identifying
suitable restricted work positions, communicating with external decision
makers and monitoring injured employees' progression to pre-injury levels.
The goal of a modified work program is to satisfy both
employer and employee requirements. On the one hand, employers require
useful tasks that contribute to productivity while injured employees require
stimulating work that fits within their functional capacity restrictions
and maintains their connection to their work environment.
The number and types of restricted work positions required
depends on the total number of unique positions and types of injuries.
When designing a modified work program, consider the three types of modified
work: restricted pre-injury position, alternate duties and gradual return
to work duties. Start by identifying the common injuries and associated
work restrictions for each stage of recovery. Cross reference work restrictions
with existing positions in order to establish the number of unique modified
position needed to satisfy modified work requirements. All modified work
duties should be analyzed and documented by a qualified rehabilitation
professional.
Communicating to your health and safety team, both internal
and external, the availability of modified work is critical to successful
program implementation. Doctors and case managers need access to modified
work information to make informed return to work decisions while rehabilitation
professionals require it to design an effective rehabilitation program
integrating modified work into the reconditioning process. The key is
enabling decision makers to access and search for appropriate positions
at each stage in the rehabilitation process.
Video PDA® and Progressive Modified Work
EARA Technologies will assist with each phase of designing
and implementing a progressive modified work program - from auditing your
injury history to selecting appropriate modified work tasks. Our patented
disability management tool, Video PDA®, will increase the effectiveness
of your modified work program by providing key decision makers with access
to alternate positions with an online searchable database. Video footage
and a comprehensive written physical demands analysis for each modified
work position eliminate guesswork when evaluating the appropriateness
of specific modified duties.
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