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 Home Health and Safety Health and Safety News
Recipe for successful rehab protects food industry workers
31 October 2007
A set of 17 detailed case studies on rehabilitation of workers in the food manufacturing industry are now available on the HSE website.
The case studies were launched at the annual food industry health and safety conference, held at the Chipping Campden Food Research Association in October. To introduce the case studies there was a presentation by Julia Stone, Occupational Health Manager for Uniq and Matthew Cornish, an Usdaw member from their Evercreech plant. Despite losing his right arm and leg in a motorbike accident on his way to work, Matthew was successfully rehabilitated into a new job at the site.16 weeks after the accident he was being introduced back into the workplace. The company made good use of Access to Work service provided by local Job Centre Plus and enlisted the support of his colleagues to assist. Mathew’s description of how work was a bedrock in his recovery from such serious injury was a graphic example of the value of rehabilitation.
The case studies demonstrate the key issues in managing sickness absence and return to work:
- Sickness absence is not just a matter of ill-health. It is affected by a combination of the health condition, personal and work/organisational factors. The last two factors get more important the longer the absence.
- Early intervention is key. The sooner action is taken, the better the chances are of an employee making a full and speedy return to work.
- Work in a well-managed workplace is a treatment for people recovering from sickness absence and an early return to work improves both mental and physical recovery.
- Simple adjustments can enable workers to return to work safely before their symptoms completely disappear. Workers can normally return before they are 100% fit.
To see the case studies go to http://www.hse.gov.uk/food/rehabilitation/index.htm .
Contact Details
Health and Safety section
Ph: 0161 249 2441
Fax: 0161 249 2475
Email: healthandsafety@usdaw.org.uk
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