Browsing: Return to work and rehabilitation | Page 1

A Safe Work Australia-commissioned research project has identified four early intervention approaches to work-related injury claims that appear to be "particularly helpful".

An appeals bench has upheld a finding that a worker's failure to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine while she was injured amounted to a breach of her return-to-work duties and warranted her benefits being cut.

• WHS ministers agree to harmonised exposure limits;
  
• Access to dust damages improved in WA;
  
• RTW body officially established in Vic; and
  
• Workers to be protected by new slow-down rules in SA.

Injured workers, and their employers, will be better protected from costly secondary psychological injuries by new provisions requiring insurers to actively provide early intervention services. The provisions are included in a Queensland Bill, which also creates Australia's longest list of cancers presumed, for workers' comp purposes, to be caused by firefighting duties.

Employers will be required to cooperate and communicate with labour-hire providers on suitable employment options for injured workers, under a South Australian Bill that also includes special arrangements for self-insured companies, and enhances benefits for those with dust diseases and terminal illnesses.

Workers' compensation authorities are expected to adjust their activities to increase their focus on psychological injuries and target fraud, after a major audit found a lot of money has gone towards internal improvements, but not enough attention has been paid to return-to-work outcomes.

An employer has failed to block an injured worker's pursuit of additional compensation by alleging he was barred for failing to comply with his rehabilitation program.

• Employers warned against unsafe rushing ahead of stone ban;
  
• Employer that boosted HSR numbers among Vic safety winners; and
  
• Safety awards open in WA.

A commission has rejected an employer's suggestions of suitable employment for a worker who was psychologically injured by an assault, after it failed to prove the proposed form of employment actually exists.

Encouraging teamwork and ensuring safety personnel provide managers with advice on legislative requirements are two vital elements researchers say facilitate workers' return to work after suffering mental health disorders.