Canadian Safety Reporter

7 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2017 Pain not a permanent impairment The tribunal also noted that the doctors' reports stated that the worker was "disabled," but in or- der to be eligible for benefits, the worker must have a permanent impairment – defined in the On- tario Workplace Safety and In- surance Act as "impairment that continues to exist after maxi- mum medical rehabilitation has been achieved." However, the worker's diagnosis was of lower back pain, and it had been estab- lished that pain alone was not a permanent impairment. In addition, the worker had no physical restrictions docu- mented. At one point, his doctor indicated he required modified duties for a short period of time before returning to full duties. "While I accept there was pain, which at times was significant, there is no substantial evidence before me which would suggest a permanent physical or func- tional abnormality or loss result- ing from the 1991 workplace ac- cident…" said the tribunal. The tribunal also found that while the doctors' opinions indi- cated the worker's back pain was caused by the two workplace ac- cidents, there was no indication as to the "relative contributions" of each accident and nothing to support a finding that the 1991 accident caused a permanent impairment. The tribunal denied the work- er's appeal, upholding the find- ings of the WSIB and Appeals Resolution Office that the back injury the worker suffered in the 1991 workplace accident had "resolved with no permanent impairment." For more information see: • Decision No. 2273/16, 2016 CarswellOnt 15751 (Ont. Workplace Safety & Insurance Appeals Trib.). Worker can't < pg. 6 Pain alone not considered permanent impairment News | February 2017 | CSR sustainable return to work. • Claim management — The administration of income- loss claims through employee benefit insurance plans (short-term disability, workers' compensation, and long-term disability insurances). • Case management — The assessment, planning, implementation, co- ordination, monitoring, and evaluation of services available to meet an employee's health needs. Focusing on competent disability case management greatly improves the organization's DMP outcomes. • Return-to-work planning — A "socially fragile process" in which the returning employee, supervisor, and co-workers face the challenge of renegotiating work relationships and duties. Work accommodation must be mutually beneficial; it must meet the employee's capabilities and the organization's business needs. • Return-to-work placement — Ideally, employees should return to their own job — a known position in which they can excel and receive co-worker support. The placement must be monitored to ensure that recovery is realized; an action rarely undertaken by employers. • Confidentiality — In managing employee personal health information, all individuals are legally required to protect its confidentiality. • Documentation — For disability claim management, case management, and return-to-work planning and placement, documentation is crucial. It enables monitoring of the employee's recovery and return-to-work outcome, and demonstrates the organization's duty to accommodate due diligence. • Program evaluation and continuous improvement — Data collection and analysis enables the employer to understand the true cost of disability, and identify improvement opportunities. • Ethical disability management practice — The ethics of the disability situation must be objectively weighed so that the decision-making is rational and based on facts, rather than on emotional issues. • Legal compliance — Disability management is impacted by law. Stakeholders must be aware that specific acts and regulations change; they should obtain legal counsel to ensure they have the most current case law information when setting up programs or when dealing with specific disability cases. Create an integrated Dis- ability Management Program. Employers who have created an Integrated Disability Manage- ment Program have achieved strong performance outcomes — for example, reduced em- ployee group benefit costs by 15 per cent to 35 per cent. It in- volves: • Maximization of organizational resources and expertise — Linking the Human Resources Program, Attendance Control Programs, Disability Management Program, Occupational Health and Safety Program, and Employee Assistance Program into an Integrated Disability Management Program. • Disability Management practitioner expertise – Position these practitioners to guide, steward and govern the organization to be able to effectively and efficiently control absenteeism and manage disability. • Competent disability case managers are vital to the successful and sustainable recovery and return-to-work process. Disability Management Program evaluation The Disability Management Pro- gram has to be regularly evaluat- ed to ensure that it is delivering value. For this to happen, the or- ganization has to establish pro- gram goals, objectives, action plans and performance targets, as well as to regularly measure and evaluate their achievement. Supportive work culture By creating a supportive work culture that maximizes human performance, management creates a work environment in which safe work practices, a re- spectful workplace, meaningful employee support, hiring prac- tices that provide good person- job fit, adequate information and equipment, employee education and training, and encourage- ment to perform at a high level, are the norm. Case Management assessment To effectively manage employee illness and injury and dimin- ished functional capacity, a case manager conducts a case man- agement assessment. Hence, the barriers and drivers to a safe and timely return-to-work outcome are identified. Effective case management involves changing barriers into drivers for a suc- cessful return to work. Canadian employers face sig- nificant challenges in disability management. Yet, by providing strong leadership and creating a corporate culture focused on establishing an approach to ef- fective absence control and disability management, a solid foundation is created on which to build. Dianne E. Dyck is an occupa- tional health nurse and occu- pational health and safety spe- cialist with Progressive Health & Safety Consulting in Calgary. She can be reached at (403) 282- 9330 or degdyck2@gmail.com. Disability < pg. 3 Co-operation and support key elements for program

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