Ursula Lone, Rehab Coordinator for the Scenic Rim Regional Council, and Rick Hotz, Works’ Coordinator of the same organisation, have got a lot of positive things to say about building RTW partnerships—but they’re not the easiest people to catch in the office. The day they spoke to RTWMatters, they’d been out and about all morning, clocking up 230km as they hit the road for a series of worksite visits.

“In some organisations, some people won’t walk down the hallway to talk to someone; they’ll send an email,” Rick says. “We have five depots, 1700 kms of council roads, 138 bridges and 400km of state roads to look after, but Urs and I get out there.  We visit everyone who’s just returned to work, or who’s off work. We make it regular. We book it into our calendars and go out at least once a month.”

Worksite visits are one of the lynchpins of the self-insured Scenic Rim Regional Council’s award winning injury management program. Below, Ursula and Rick explain both what they bring to worksite visits, and what they get out of them.
 

Caring for workers

“You really have to be passionate about the job and have that caring nature,” Ursula says, of her rehab coordinator role. “If workers can see that you care for them and have time for them, they just want to get back to work and they really appreciate it.

“I’ve had partners or wives ring up and say, ‘Thank you for looking after my man.’ When we visit after injury, we reassure all our workers that we will look after them and tell them not to worry about job security. I make a real effort to make each worker feel important, and give them a sense that they’re not wasting my time—anything but.”
 

Modified duties in the real world

Worksite visits give Rick, whose responsibilities include Work’s department HR, Safety and quality management, the opportunity to get in his two cents worth about modified duties that deliver good results for both Council and the affected staff member.

“I don’t just look over Urs’s shoulder,” Rick says. “It’s good to discuss modified duties with supervisors. I’ve had a fair bit of experience in the operational side, the work side. So I have a good understanding of the practical stuff and that can come in handy.”

Ursula agrees. “If they’re starting on suitable duties, I go out to the field to assess how those duties work in practice, rather than just sticking to the plan I’ve developed at my desk,” she says.
 

Trouble shooting

Visiting with workers also affords Rick and Ursula the opportunity to iron out any glitches in the RTW process, before they start to slow down recovery.

“If a worker is injured and unable to see us, Rick and I go out to the home. We might take out morning tea, and while we’re visiting we can also help them fill out forms, or deal with other paperwork. If they’re living on their own, we can get a better idea of whether they need any assistance at home.”
 

Inter-departmental connections

Rick and Ursula’s rubber-to-road approach also allows them to build and maintain useful relationships with other Council departments.

“Urs and I liaise with other departments,” Rick says, “So that we can move people back to work and the workplace, even if their restrictions won’t allow them back to their original job straight away.”
 

Safety celebrities

Because they’re seen at worksites so frequently, workers recognise Ursula and Rick, and feel comfortable approaching them.

“There wouldn’t be too many organisations where an HR staff member is known all the way across the organisation, but Ursula is,” Rick says. “It builds the partnerships. You can see it in the faces of the workers. They’re not backward in coming forward to tell us about any problems they have. A stitch in time saves nine. We may be able to refer someone to our EAP, and then that’s all we need to do. Problem avoided.”
 

Long-lasting motivation and loyalty

The benefits of regular worksite visits don’t end with successful rehabilitation.
 
“You end up with a more motivated worker when they do come back,” Rick says. “For me, it creates a partnership with the worker. Sometimes I might see someone at induction, and then catch up with them at probation review, but otherwise I might not see them for months. But if someone goes through this process, and knows that we were there for them, it builds trust between the worker and management.”

In 2009, Ursula Lone won Q-Comp’s Rehabilitation and return to work coordinator achievement award, in the category of self-insured employer.