Rehabilitation Plans

Legal Requirements for Rehabilitation Plans

There is a need to balance the offer of rehabilitation with the rights and needs of the injured employee. To ensure this balance is maintained, the employer should take advice from medical treatment providers and agencies with impartial expertise in claims management and rehabilitation

Procedure for Rehabilitation Plans

As soon as practicable after injury, expert intervention is required, both to assess incapacity and to determine treatment and return to work options

The employer should assist in this process by establishing lines of communication with medical practitioners and claims managers

• Often, recovery from injury is improved by early return to work, preferably to the pre-injury status
• If employees are injured, they will be provided with suitable alternative work at the earliest opportunity
• It is the line manager�s responsibility, with advice from Human Resources, to agree a rehabilitation plan with the injured employee, their medical provider and any other party that may be able to assist (e.g. specialist, physiotherapist, ACC Case Manager, family members)
• Rehabilitation may consist of short hours, avoidance of specific types of work or movement, retraining or different job

The outcome of rehabilitation in order of preference is:

• Same job, same employer
• Different job, same employer
• Different job, different employer

How to complete Rehabilitation Plans using SafetyBase

Open a Rehabilitation Plan file under the Accidents heading. Click the Add button and start the file. SafetyBase prompts you to create a plan for a period of rehabilitation that is agreed by the injured person and others

Using Tasks while completing Rehabilitation Plans

Tasks can be notifications, instructions, alerts or corrective actions associated with a particular file. You can add Tasks as you go during data entry, using the inline New Task button in your screen. You can also use the Toolbar at the bottom of your screen during data input, or the Tasks tab after you submit the file

As you create a file, SafetyBase may automatically set suggested Tasks, depending on some of your droplist selections. Watch for inline informational messages, which are there to alert you if a droplist might create an automatic Task

Please note that although these automatic Tasks may be created as helpful prompts, they do have generic wording, so you have the choice of creating Tasks yourself. This is advisable if you prefer the wording to be specific or personal. If appropriate, you can select the "Recurring" button, which lets you create a repeating schedule, (say, an inspection, review or check-up interval)

When any Task is set in the system, it will display in the form you created, a summary tab in the file and in the Task List of the person it is allocated to (Recurring Tasks don't show until they are due). Tasks are also e-mailed to the allocated person on the required number of days prior to the Due Date

A small number of tasks have been set as mandatory (example, reporting serious injuries to the statutory authority). These cannot be deleted.

SafetyBase Tips and Tricks for managing Rehabilitation Plans

• If the status is left as "Open", the file will show on the Dashboard Open Files list but, being confidential, should be configured locally to be unavailable to anyone without consent. The Administrator is able to do this

• Attach electronic documents (example, an existing rehabilitation plan), using the Attach Documents inline button in the Toolbar at the bottom of the page while entering data, or afterwards, using the Tasks tab. Browse to the document and submit it. The document will download and be available for viewing

• Link a SafetyBase file (example, Accident Report, Investigation or similar file that has direct relevance): Use the Link File inline button in the Toolbar at the bottom of the page while entering data, or afterwards using the Tasks tab. Select the SafetyBase file from the drop-lists and submit. The two files will be linked

• Remember to associate People with this file type, using the Associate People inline button on the Toolbar at the bottom of the page while entering data, or afterwards using the Task tab. This builds a safety history per person, which you can view by clicking on their name anywhere in the account

• Check file history in the "Status Log" tab. This automatically records status changes to the file. If you would like to monitor the file, click the "Watch" button at the top of the file summary. This will place the file on your Watchlist and e-mail you whenever the file status changes