On average, injured or ill workers in the transport industry are taking longer than most other industries to recover at work.

SafeWork NSW and SIRA are working together with industry to improve practices to support injured or ill workers to recover at work.

Recover at work

Helping workers recover at work can benefit both employers and workers. Benefits can include:

• reducing the cost of hiring and/or training a replacement worker
• reducing the costs/financial impact associated with each claim
• maintaining the skills and knowledge of an experienced worker
• maintaining good employer-employee relationships
• reducing pain symptoms and helping workers resume their usual work and home activities earlier
• reducing the risk of longer-term disability.

Having a planned and consistent approach to support injured or ill workers is good for business, and a legal requirement known as a ‘return to work program’.

A return to work program is the policy and procedures for handling any work-related injury or illness. It represents your commitment to the health, safety and recovery of workers following an incident.

All employers in NSW must have a return to work program within 12 months of starting a business.

Your program must follow the State Insurance Regulatory Authority’s (SIRA) guidelines for workplace return to work programs.

The SIRA website has detailed information on what is required in a return to work program and how to set one up.

Extra support for small business

If you have five or fewer workers and a workers’ compensation premium of $30,000 or less, SIRA has a program to assist.

The Recover to work assist program for micro employers helps businesses who find it difficult to provide suitable duties for injured workers.

SIRA also provides several vocational rehabilitation programs and a useful fact sheet on supporting workers to recover at work.

Work is an important part of rehabilitation. It is a therapeutic intervention and should be used as part of a worker’s treatment when they are recovering from a workplace injury.

The longer a worker is off work, the less chance they have of ever returning. Research has shown that after a workplace injury, the injured worker has:

• 70% chance of returning to employment after 20 days off
• 50% chance of ever returning to work after 45 days off work
• 35% chance of ever returning to work after 70 days off work.

Employers within the transport industry can assist their injured workers to recover at work by providing suitable duties. Depending on the injury and medical capacity, recovery, work and suitable duties can include:

• performing pre-injury duties on fewer days (e.g. driving for 3 days a week instead of 5-6 days)
• performing local delivery runs rather than interstate driving
• working at the depot, assisting with loading, and unloading of trucks
• working with an assistant who can help with loading and unloading the truck if the driver has lifting limitations.

Assessing the truck operated by the driver can help identify alternative strategies for recovery at work dependent upon the barriers for recovering at work.

Some examples may include the injured worker’s ability to:

• get in and out of the truck
• lift truck gates to secure a load
• pull the truck curtains closed.

Solutions could include an ergonomic assessment with recommendations for an alternative seat, hanging truck gates and temporarily changing the injured workers truck with another truck while the injured worker undergoes rehabilitation.

For some injuries, there may be a delay in starting suitable duties. During this time it is important to stay in contact with your injured worker so that they know they are supported to recover at work when their medical capacity supports this.

For psychological injury, there is a web-based toolkit for workplaces that offers easy, practical help which is evidence-informed and guided by the voice of lived experience.

Case study

Job title: Interstate truck driver.

Driver: Responsible for driving a truck from Sydney to Brisbane, the Depot was located between Sydney and Brisbane.

Injury: Injured worker twisted his knee and sustained a knee injury while walking backwards and pulling truck curtains.

Pre-injury days and hours worked per week: 6 days a week, Monday to Friday 12 to 14 hours per day and Sunday 6 to 8 hours per day.

Employer: The employer was supportive of return to work. The employer was concerned about the impact of the claim on workers compensation premiums and was willing to support a progressive return to work. The employer requested the aid of a Rehabilitation provider who through liaison with the injured worker’s nominated treating doctor and treating physiotherapist established the injured workers capacity, recovery time frames and return to work times frames.

A progressive suitable duties/recover at work plan was developed and agreed to by the injured worker, employer and treating doctor following a workplace assessment. The worker was able to gradually return to work as per the progressive recover at work plan below.

Recover at work plan

Stage 1

Hours worked: 5 hours per day, 3 days a week

Number of weeks: 2 weeks

Suitable duties to be performed:

• working at the Depot
• stocktake
• helping with office work
• contacting and liaising with other truck drivers on the radio.

Stage 2

Hours worked: 8 hours per day, 3 days a week

Number of weeks: 2 weeks

Suitable duties to be performed:

• driving a forklift to load and unload stock at the depot
• short local drives
• stocktake
• helping with office work
• contacting and liaising with other truck drivers on the radio.

Stage 3

Hours worked: 8 hours per day, 5 days a week

Number of weeks: 3 weeks

Suitable duties to be performed:

• driving a forklift to load and unload stock at the depot
• stocktake
• short local drives
• changeover driving which requires driving from Depot to destination or driving from stop over to final destination and back as required (3.5 hours driving each way).

Stage 4

Hours worked: Pre-injury hours and days

Number of weeks: 2 weeks

Suitable duties to be performed:

• driving a truck from Depot to Sydney (overnight stay) and then back to depot (7.5 hours each way) X 1 week
• driving a forklift to load and unload stock at the depot
• stocktake.

Commenced pre-injury duties and pre-injury hours.