Return to Work Plans are usually created and used in conjunction with Worker’s Comp injuries and focus on getting a recovering employee back to work as soon as practical. But they can end up connected to ADA issues following serious injuries, which can cause problems for a business if the … Read More
When should you write down how you want things done by employees? When: You keep explaining the same process over and over. A certain process occurs so seldom that everyone forgets how to do it. You want everyone to do things the same way. You want to set a baseline … Read More
When you are putting together a Return to Work program, one useful item is a set of functional job descriptions. These differ from the job descriptions you might already have by focusing solely of the physical requirements of a job rather than on the tasks; instead of “store packages on … Read More
Every good program seems to be weighed down with paperwork, and a Return to Work (RTW) plan is no different. In this case, the paperwork has a special name: Grab N Go kits. These kits are contained in a large envelope and are designed to be taken along when an … Read More
Return to Work (RTW) plans are one of those things that you never think of until it is too late to develop one, like a car emergency kit. Once an employee is hurt, you have four work days to sort it out before wage-loss payments start and your workers comp … Read More
Montana has long had a work injury rate 40% higher than the national average, resulting in high levels of injuries and expensive Worker’s Compensation rates. The federal OSHA program is geared toward national issues, which don’t always address Montana’s safety problems. In an effort to improve Montana’s safety rates, the … Read More
Having volunteers seems like a no-brainer for every nonprofit, but there are some things to think about when you do. In no particular order, a few of them are: Get applicable releases from volunteers before they start work, starting with a medical release. For minors, get a photo release from … Read More
Little-known fact: All Montana companies with five or more employees are required to have a Safety Committee. Even companies that do have one don’t always know how to balance the committee to make it truly useful. Sometimes everyone on the committee is a line employee; sometimes everyone is management. Neither … Read More
There are lots of advantages to having a neat and clean workspace, from efficiency to environmental considerations. The big problem is always how to get there. One technique associated with Lean Manufacturing is called the 5S program; it starts with the obvious challenges of how to get the workplace cleaned … Read More
When an employee is seriously injured, on or off the job, getting a doctor’s release so they can go back to work can be difficult. Unless you can tell the doctor exactly what the job entails physically, he or she is unlikely to sign off on anything other than a … Read More