STAR Industries
Policy and Procedures
POLICY TITLE:
SELECTING SUITABLE DUTIES FOR INJURED
WORKERS
ADMINISTERED BY:
GENERAL MANAGER HUMAN RESOURCES
APPLICABILITY:
ALL EMPLOYEES
Policy Statement
STAR Industries is committed to the principles of best practice in assisting with
the rehabilitation of sick or injured workers. All employees of STAR industries who
are returning to work after an illness or injury and who may need rehabilitation
before returning to their full duties can be assigned to appropriate alternative
duties. This may involve work outside their regular department and may involve
reduced work hours. Rehabilitation should be monitored under an approved
Return to Work Program.
Appropriate assistance will be given to workers from a non-English speaking
background and to those permanently unable to return to pre-injury duties. The
return to work program, the workplace, work systems and tasks will be modified
as necessary, to the extent practicable, to assist with a worker’s recovery and
return to work.
Policy Objective
The purpose of this document is to provide guidelines for managers and returnto-work program co-ordinators to assign appropriate alternative duties for
employees returning after illness or injury. The purpose of alternative duties is to
assist the employee's recovery and rehabilitation by keeping them in the
workplace and keeping them productive until able to return to full duties.
Suitable duties must be:

Productive/meaningful

Time-limited (i.e. not permanent)

Monitored closely

Regularly upgraded

Consistent with physical and/or psychological restrictions as per medical
advice
STAR INDUSTRIES IS A FICTITIOUS COMPANY CREATED FOR EDUCATION & TRAINING PURPOSES
July 2003
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STAR Industries

Consistent with worker’s skills and ability to travel.
Related documents
See also the following policies and forms available on the STAR Intranet:

Policy "Rehabilitation and Return to Work"

Register of Injuries form

Return to Work Plan (template)
Procedures
Guidelines for determining suitable duties
1. List the tasks normally carried out by the injured worker, by talking with the
worker and the supervisor. It may help to go and watch the work being done.
The first option is to keep the worker doing his or her pre-injury duties – with
whatever changes are necessary for the worker to be able to continue in that
position.
2. Identify the medical restrictions on the worker’s activities by looking at the
medical certificate, and consider how these will affect the worker’s ability to
perform his or her normal duties. Consider changing the hours, the tasks or
the work practices involved. Also think about building in rest breaks,
alternating tasks to enable changes in posture, or altering the flow of work.
3. Decide which parts of their normal job (if any) the worker can still perform,
and for how many hours each day.
4. The second option is to try to keep the worker in the same area but doing a
different job. You may need to design a job especially for the injured worker,
using the information from the treating doctor. Identify other duties the
worker could perform while recovering from the injury, by talking with the
supervisor and others at the workplace.
5. The third option is to consider a different position in a new area or even a
different site of the same organisation. Try to find out if there is a need for a
special task or project to be carried out.
6. The fourth option is to consider different duties in a new workplace:
sometimes it won’t be possible to identify suitable duties for a particular
worker.
7. Consider how the duties and hours selected for the injured worker will affect
the supervisor(s) and others, and what kinds of support, training or
explanation will be necessary.
STAR INDUSTRIES IS A FICTITIOUS COMPANY CREATED FOR EDUCATION & TRAINING PURPOSES
July 2003
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STAR Industries
8. Write down the suitable duties in a return to work plan, including a starting
date and a review date. Sign it and get signatures from all relevant parties –
the injured worker, the doctor and the supervisor(s).
9. Review and modify the return to work plan if necessary. The length of the
probation period will normally be three months with the provision to extend if
necessary.
10. In a small percentage of cases injured workers will no longer have any
transferable or marketable skills as a result of their injury. Consider either on
the job retraining or formal retraining.
STAR INDUSTRIES IS A FICTITIOUS COMPANY CREATED FOR EDUCATION & TRAINING PURPOSES
July 2003
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