Paul Amos, an OHS and rehab professional employed in the Barossa Valley, works from experience when dealing with injured workers.
 
Ten years ago, while employed in the events industry, he injured his back. It took Paul seven years to recover.

“I know what it’s like on the other side,” Paul says.

Even now, he has certain physical limitations. But he remembers well the patience and steely determination required to find a way forward. Now, these experiences help Paul assist injured workers to have a life beyond their injury.

Paul talks about the importance of partnership involving all parties at every step. He prioritises checking in with the injured worker early on, before and after work shifts, and contacting them after medical procedures to see how their recovery is going at home.

An injured worker helped by Paul sings his praises, “Through my whole claim, I’ve had some awful experiences. And I don’t easily trust people. But I trust Paul. I know he’ll do the right thing by me”.

A finalist in this year’s WorkCover (South Australia) Recovery and Return to Work Awards in the category of rehabilitation and return-to-work coordinator excellence, Paul also uses his experience “on the other side” to improve return-to-work outcomes at a systemic level.

Within a few weeks of starting his new job at the Barossa Community Store in January this year, Paul had created packs for injured workers, and started communicating with GPs for all new and existing claims.

Understanding the importance of communication between the workplace and the treating practitioner, but knowing that face-to-face meetings with doctors were pretty well impossible to organise, Paul wrote to all the GPs in the Barossa Valley. Since then, he has found ways of communicating with the doctors treating his workers through clinic receptionists and by using email. When an injured worker invites him to accompany them on a visit to the doctor, Paul doesn’t miss the opportunity.

With his previous employer, Novotel, Paul introduced the use of initial workplace conferences when an impending long-term injury occurred, a practice he now uses at the Barossa Community Store. This involves an occupational therapist visiting the worker within 48 hours of their injury to discuss how to manage the injury early on, to show the company’s support for the worker, and to develop a job analysis for the insurer and the treating doctor.
 
“Paul’s genuine desire to assist injured workers back to work and to regain their pre-injury lifestyle is what sets him apart from other rehabilitation and return to work coordinators I have worked with,” says Abby Dunnicliff, rehabilitation consultant at Insite Injury Management Group, Barossa Community Store’s preferred rehabilitation provider.