Whether your disability management system has been ad-hoc, outright adversarial or bogged down in bureaucratic processes, chances are you’ve accumulated a bit of dirty laundry. But you won’t know unless you look for it.

The best way to clean up an organisation’s injury management system is to identify and assess the processes currently in use.

The most suitable method (or combination of methods) for system assessment will vary from organisation to organisation:

• A large organisation may use a formal audit and employee surveys; while
• A small organisation may use an informal audit and “toolbox talks”.

Whatever the size of the organisation, multiple measures of disability management performance should be combined to gather a complete picture rather than relying on one measure of information alone.

Below, we outline the options for assessment and also get you started on the step that follows the identification of dirty laundry: collaborating on taking it to the cleaners. To jump between sections, use the links here:

Informal audit / Formal audit / Surveys and Toolbox talks / Cleaning up the system / Senior management involvement / Involving the team / 15 system fixers

Informal audit
An informal audit of the issues can be completed by:

1. Analysing the financial costs;
2. Understanding the most common injuries; and
3. Obtaining feedback from employees, supervisors and managers about how things are dealt with.  Ask about whether people are satisfied with the current system and what can be improved. 

Questions that can be useful to assess work disability management

• Unsafe working conditions are identified and improved promptly.
• Employees are trained in safe work practices for the job hazards they will encounter.
• The safety program or committee has the responsibility, authority, and resources to identify and address safety problems.
• Employees are involved in decisions affecting their daily work.
• Jobs are designed to reduce heavy lifting.
• Someone from the company contacts the employee shortly after an injury or illness to express concern and offer assistance.
• Ergonomic approaches are used to assist disabled workers in returning to work.

From Training to optimize the response of supervisors to work injuries-needs assessment, design, and evaluation.

Your organisation may already collect information that can be used to understand whether work disability is a problem, for example rates and length of work absence.  Take advantage of this pre-existing information.

Formal audit
Formal audits are useful for larger organisations. Formal audits make use of an auditing tool / program, for example the internationally recognised CBDMA.

The Consensus Based Disability Management Audit (CBDMA) is a well-regarded internationally used tool that can be used by organisations as:

• An evaluative tool, to determine current disability management program performance;
• A corrective tool, to establish where program deficiencies are, highlighting remedial actions required; and
• A program promotion tool, foregrounding disability management concepts for workers and demonstrating management's commitment to best practice.

Data is collected with three distinct question types: consensus questions, evidence questions, and survey or interview questions. The organisation is then provided with a list of clear, ‘next-step’ recommendations on how to improve injury management outcomes.

Surveys / “Toolbox talks”
If your organisation already conducts employee surveys, these may provide information about how the site measures up in terms of workplace culture.

In areas with relatively few employees, it may be appropriate to explore work injury management issues in small groups.

For example, routine “toolbox talks” can be an opportunity to inquire about RTW management. Similarly, managers’ meetings can be used to explore potential issues for this group.

Cleaning up the system
Access to the disability management Laundromat requires a team effort. Once you’ve identified the “dirt” in your system, cleaning solutions are best identified collaboratively, seeking input from:

• Senior management;
• Employees; and
• Employee representatives (eg. Unions).

The overall aim is to draw up recommendations in the form of an action plan, a process we cover in part three.

Those in charge of program implementation may need to prioritise solutions, but they should communicate back to staff the results of the plans for continuous improvement, with dates for review.

Senior management involvement
Management need guidance about how best to facilitate RTW problem solving. Senior managers often achieve the most by asking other staff for their input.

Management can help formulate solutions by:

• Asking their managerial subordinates about how people with a work injury are going, and what is being done to help them;
• Calling workers with an injury, to ask how they are and whether the organisation can do anything else to support them; and
• Expecting monthly or quarterly reports about case numbers, costs, and any planned improvements to the system.

Involving the team: Focus groups
Employee (and employee representative) know-how is an invaluable resource when it comes to finding solutions to injury management problems. A good way to figure out ‘where to next’ is to bring together approximately 6 to 10 employees as a “focus group”.

Ask the focus group to brainstorm solutions to problems identified during the system assessment.

Common problems…and 15 system fixers!
Below is a list of 15 trusty detergent-bombs for less-than-pristine systems:

1. Further training for Return to Work coordinators.
2. Training of line managers and supervisors in injury management and communication.
3. The development of a system for obtaining regular feedback from employees with an injury, such as routine surveys.
4. Undertaking a group process to identify a list of modified duties for injured workers.
5. Development of the organisation’s policies and procedures.
6. Improved incident investigation.
7. Better systems of early reporting and communication.
8. Specialist or external support for complex cases.
9. The provision of ergonomic advice.
10. Improved relationships with health care providers.
11. A written list of available modified duties.
12. Improved communication channels for people returning to work – eg a weekly catch-up, and access to senior staff if there are problems.
13. Regular reporting and feedback on the injury management system.
14. Regular meetings between the RTW coordinator, relevant supervisors, HR and claims staff such as the WorkCover insurer.
15. The development of a tick box list of essential functions of particular jobs for treating doctors to complete. This list should be available on the company website so that employees can take it to their doctors.