Toolbox: Return-to-Work - SAIF Corporation

Risk Management Return to Work
www.saif.com
Program benefits
• Injured workers off work longer than six months have only a 50
percent chance of returning to their job. If time loss exceeds one
year, there is a 90 percent chance they will never return to work.
• Return-to-work programs reduce medical costs. The injured worker
heals faster, shortening the time medical treatment is required.
• Return-to-work programs reduce legal costs. Workers are less likely to
feel their rights have been violated causing them to hire legal council.
• Cost reductions resulting from return-to-work programs directly
impact your organization’s workers’ compensation premium rate.
Manage the process
The immediate supervisor serves a key role in making the process
successful. Consistent and on-going communication with the worker is
vital. The process should be treated in a positive, proactive fashion. The
worker in a transitional/temporary job should be made to feel that he or
she is a productive part of the work force. Care and concern should be
expressed by all involved, including the worker’s peers. You should inform
your claims adjuster and/or return-to-work consultant regarding any
changes in the worker’s transitional/temporary work status.
How to get your injured workers back to work and control workers’
compensation costs
1. Find a transitional/temporary job that fits the injury.
Use your Release to Return-to-Work form (a sample is included in
this section) or physician’s release form to determine the physician’s
work restrictions. Then, if possible, identify a suitable
transitional/temporary job within those restrictions. Provide a copy of
this form to your worker and instruct the worker to have their physician
complete the form at each visit and return it to you so that you may
stay updated with their most current work restrictions.
2. Do not wait for the physician to contact you.
Write a description of the transitional job (using the Job Description
form included in this section), identifying the physical requirements of
your transitional/temporary position. When applicable, use the information
previously obtained from your Release to Return-to-Work Form or
other physician’s release information.
Send the job description to the treating physician, introducing the job and
expressing your willingness to accommodate the physical restrictions the
physician identified. Offer to pick up the response, or provide a fax or
contact number to the doctor and ask them to advise you when it is
completed from the physician’s office to speed up the process. Maintain
contact with the physician until you obtain approval.
© SAIF Corporation Page 2 of 25 S-825 January 2007