WorkCover SA is committed to advancing, disseminating and preserving knowledge that improves recovery and returns injured workers to safe workplaces and the community.
The role of the workplace in return to work
In 2007, WorkCover commissioned research into the role of workplace in return to work following a workplace injury or illness. A pilot was trialled in the aged care sector. The evidence base for informing policy and approaches are presented in the following material: (i) a discussion paper - an overview of the research literature related to return to work following a workplace injury plus some guidelines for organisations looking to improve their processes; (ii) case studies - presents the policies and practices of two aged care organisations in the management of a workplace injury and highlight the key success factors in achieving an effective return-to-work; (iii) an executive summary - this report summarises the methodology and project findings.
Environmental scan
The now-twice-yearly environmental scan is targeted to provide information on emerging trends, issues and recent research relevant to WorkCover SA. The scan consists of three sections: Scheme management (politico-legislative); external environment (economy, diseases, OHS, demographics, technology); injury management (RTW research & related topics); plus a special topic.
Literature review
WorkCover, in collaboration with TRACsa, commissioned a review of the literature on the facilitators and barriers to return to work after injury. The review was done by the Australian Institute for Primary Care, Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe University. Also, included in the full report, is a section on the literature on Motor vehicle injuries: return to work and key conditions.
Social Health Atlas
A Social Health Atlas for Compensable Injury in South Australia, the first health atlas to include compulsory third party and workers compensation data, has been produced by the Public Health Information Development Unit at the University of Adelaide.
The Atlas brings together population level data on compensation claims made under the State’s compulsory third party and workers compensation schemes, and information on social, economic and demographic characteristics, health status and health service utilisation.
Visit the Social Health Atlas website.