An innovative approach to employee health and safety, which has massively reduced worker compensation claims, has won RDNS SA (Royal District Nursing Service) the Employer Excellence Award at this year’s SISA (Self-Insurers of South Australia) Awards.
The SISA Awards recognise outstanding achievements in workplace health, safety and injury recovery among self insurers in South Australia. RDNS was recognised for excellence in its Rehabilitation and Return to Work Services.
RDNS has a holistic approach to employee health from recruitment that starts at the recruitment phase and continues throughout the employment period. Pre-employment functional assessments ensure that a new employee’s s physical capacity is appropriate to the role, reducing risk of injury from the outset. Once employed, the “Early Intervention program” provides early assessment and treatment of any niggles or developing injuries to limit impact and restore full health quickly.
“The Early Intervention programme has proven highly successful, reducing the number of worker compensation claims from 46 in 2007/2008 financial year to only 13 new claims in 2010 / 2011 financial year,” said Angela Littleford, Chief Operating Officer, RDNS SA.
Work-impacting injuries, even if they were not attained in the workplace, are managed through this programme with 99% of all cases being actively treated on the same day as they are reported. RDNS has found that in 95% of cases, the injury can be successfully treated, thereby reducing pain and loss of function to the employee.
When an injury is sustained, whether work-related or not, RDNS enables the affected staff member to obtain treatment, allowing for an easier rehabilitation process that is less disruptive to the employee’s life. RDNS partners with physiotherapy service-providers across the region to ensure that treatment is at the optimal convenience of the employee. In such cases, RDNS will receive a physio-capacity report within 2 hours of the consultation, allowing for diagnosis, immediate modification of duties (if required) and a treatment plan. This avoids loss of time from work and the employee can return to safe and productive duties as soon as possible.
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