A11. Return to Work Policy
It is imperative that you report any accident or injury incurred on the job to your supervisor/manager as soon as they occur. Your supervisor will complete an accident occurrence report and send it to the Administration.
Accidents, no matter how minor they may seem, whether customer or employee, must be reported to your supervisor/manager.
Early and Safe Return to Work Policy
Gibbys Electronic Supermarket’s Early and Safe Return to Work (ESRTW) for workers policy is designed for our workers who have been injured, and is an important part of our Health and Safety Program. Clearly, it is much preferable to have no injuries and therefore no need for an ESRTW program, but we are committed to provide a system that maintains contact with injured workers, their health care provider(s) and the WSIB, should an injury occur, and try to provide a number of benefits to both the worker and the employer.
Objectives of the ESRTW program include:
- Maintaining contact with injured workers and their health care provider to determine when they may be able to return to work.
- Offering modified work that allows workers to stay employed whenever possible.
- Using the WSIB’s Functional Abilities Form to assess the limitations workers may have and using that information to provide work that is within the workers capabilities if available.
- Maintaining contact and working with the WSIB account manager or claims adjudicator to bring injured workers back to work.
- Ensuring that workers are aware of the companys ESRTW program so that in the event that they are injured, they know that modified work may be available.
In the event that one of our employees is injured, Gibbys Electronic Supermarket will work with the worker, his/her health care provider and the WSIB to see that the employee is returned to work as soon as is reasonably possible.
All employees will be advised at the time of hire that we will attempt to provide modified work that allows employees to safely remain at work until they are able to resume normal duties. The work offered must be safe for the worker to perform with his/her injury and not pose any threat to rest of the staff.
In the event of an injury that requires medical treatment, a co-worker or a company representative will accompany the injured worker to the hospital and will speak with the treating physician to assess the opportunities for the worker’s return to work if possible. In cases where the worker has sought medical treatment after work, Gibbys Electronic Supermarket will contact the treating physician to advise him/her that modified work is available for the injured worker should the appropriate written documentation of the injury not be provided.
Where an employee is disabled and off work due to an injury, Gibbys Electronic Supermarket will:
- Instruct the injured worker to contact us by telephone on a regular basis to update their progress, provide documentation of any new results from healthcare appointments, and modify any plans we have as to when he/she may be able to return to either modified work or regular duties.
- Write or phone the worker’s health care provider where deemed appropriate, to advise him/her that modified work can be made available to the worker and to assess the kind of modification that the health care provider may recommend or require.
- In the case of disabilities lasting more than the original estimated number of weeks, the health care provider will be sent a Functional Abilities Form when it is appropriate, given the nature of the injury and the worker’s response to treatment.
- The status of disability cases will be reviewed with the appropriate WSIB account manager/claims adjudicator if required by the circumstances of the injury.