Bringing injured workers back for light duty a boost for county
By Mike Prager, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
About 50 workers a year are laid up and have to stay home because of on-the-job injuries, county statistics show.
Of those, the largest numbers come from the sheriff's office, detention services and the county road department.
Last year, the county's risk management department examined the cases to find out how they could bring injured employees back to light duty. Doing so reduces payments from the county's workers' compensation fund during their recovery.
The cost of time-loss claims by county employees rose from
Five
The fifth, former Deputy
The claims for that incident exceeded
Bartel and his claims team worked with supervisors, doctors and employees to find light-duty tasks employees could do while recovering from on-the-job injuries.
In the first six months of the effort, the workers' compensation fund saved
He told county commissioners last week that studies show the sooner a worker gets back on the job, even if for light duty, the faster they recover.
The work by Bartel and his staff is part of a countywide strategy to implement "lean" management strategies that place an emphasis on improving service to clients and customers.
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