Retraining Injured Workers for Employment

Launch of Project

WorkCover Ombudsman, Wayne Lines launched the project on 24th March and emphasised the projects aims to "embed retraining within rehabilitation and return to work systems to achieve improved employment outcomes for injured workers" ...> full transcript  

The aim

This is a pilot project funded by WorkCover SA to examine how best to return injured workers to meaningful employment through the provision of relevant training within an overarching rehabilitation program.  It will work with fifty workers in the Health and Community Services and Manufacturing industries over a 15 month period (in metropolitan Adelaide and a regional centre, possibly Whyalla).  Consideration will extend to how an ongoing system can be established that embeds retraining as part of the rehabilitation and return to work process in all industries.

The learning

Project learning will assist agents, workers, employers and rehabilitation providers to be better at using training as an effective part of the return to work process.  Parties will be brought together to build goodwill and a sense of common endeavor.

The plan

• increase skills in a group of injured workers (a pilot cohort of 50 individuals) enabling them to be employed in suitable duties with existing or new employers
• improve information and support for employers to better meet section 58B obligations through the provision of retraining (and hence retain valuable workers)
• increase understanding by case managers of, and coordination with, the training system, with improved embedding of training activities as part of the rehabilitation and return to work process
• improve understanding within the rehabilitation industry of, and coordination with, the training system, and the subsequent incorporation of more effective training opportunities within the rehabilitation process
• improve understanding within the training industry of the workers compensation and rehabilitation and return to work systems, and improve access for those in these systems to opportunities and information in the training sector.

Renewed or improved systems will enhance outcomes for all parties if they

• are based on the identified and potential skills of an injured worker
• are linked to real vacancies and jobs in viable industries
• enable access to high quality training and
• allow an injured worker to have a range of immediate and future options

The Goal

An important goal is to change the way training and employment opportunities for injured workers are perceived.  Project staging will enable consideration of changes to culture and practice that will lead to sustainable systems, while

• identifying and assessing the skills of individual workers
• linking injured workers to appropriate training and employment, along with any necessary personal support arrangements
• brokering/securing suitable employment opportunities for the participating workers.

The Objective

• to test how both training and rehabilitation systems can be better integrated to ensure effective identifying and assessing the skills of individual workers
• a fostering of innovation to find solutions to known barriers to return to work or enhance the effect of factors that support return to work
• the expansion of retraining options for injured workers

 

If you would like more information about the project contact Carole Strong at SA Unions on 8279 2280 or cstrong@saunions.org.au