Return to Work
Strategic Priority
We will support people injured on the job and their employers by working to improve our support for safe and timely return to work.
In it for the Long Haul: New Return-to-Work Collaboration Leads to Trucking Initiative Success
An initiative in the trucking sector aims to keep workers who have been injured connected to their industry. (Photo courtesy of the Nova Scotia Trucking Safety Association.)
There is an exciting new sector-wide program to help truckers who have been injured on the job stay connected with their industry. The initiative places or re-trains them in other jobs temporarily, that enable them to do meaningful work as they recover.
Jobs can include becoming a dispatch warehouse worker, a forklift operator, or even an office worker. In some cases, if the employee cannot return to driving, the new duties may be made permanent.
As Kelly Johnston-Noseworthy, WCB Relationship Manager, and Jana Fleming-Pretty, Adjudicator, explain, the idea for the program came from industry itself. “The Nova Scotia Trucking Safety Association and the Nova Scotia Trucking Human Resource Sector Council collaborated on this idea,” says Jana. “The industry was struggling with retention and recruitment. They needed to find a way to keep their experienced people working in the industry.”
“That brought them to us. They partnered with WCB Nova Scotia for support on a return-to-work initiative, and once we developed the idea for the program, we did a series of road shows around the province to meet with employers and get them engaged,” says Kelly.
The initiative, which is barely a year old, is still evolving. Under the current process, the Nova Scotia Trucking Sector Council does a skills assessment to identify what additional skills a worker who is injured may need to move into a transitional position. Then the Sector Council provides that training for free.
The program offers a win-win for everyone. Employers get to keep an experienced employee connected with their industry and see their claims costs reduced. They also get to explore an employee’s full potential, which may offer much more than driving.
And employees continue to benefit socially, financially, professionally, and emotionally from staying connected to the people and work they know best.
“There’s a real human component to this,” says Jana. “I had a worker join the program and he was so appreciative because it gave him a purpose to get up every day, log in to his training, and learn something new. He felt like he was contributing, doing something meaningful that benefits the employer and himself. He feels like his employer supports and appreciates him even more now.”
Early results are promising. “I am happy to report that with the help of this partnership, we were able to give employees skills that would allow them to return to work in transitional assignments, all because of the resources, upgrading and training this partnership provided,” says Monica Thomsen, Executive Director, Nova Scotia Trucking Safety Association. “We have successfully collaborated with the employees and companies to find transitional duties, and we are extremely pleased with the success stories.”
Kelly Henderson, Executive Director, Trucking Human Resource Sector Council Atlantic adds, “This partnership is advancing opportunities for those who want to remain working in the trucking industry.”
With the structure and supports in place, internally and externally, the model for this kind of partnership and cooperation could expand beyond the trucking industry. Kelly Johnston-Noseworthy is enthusiastic about the potential. “There is an opportunity to extend this approach to other sectors. That’s the goal,” she says. “This could be the wave of the future.”
Our Progress
Developed a new return-to-work social marketing campaign called “Getting Back is Part of Getting Better”, in partnership with WCBs in the other Atlantic provinces.
Launched a pilot program with Construction Safety Nova Scotia to create a job-sharing pool as part of a new industry-led approach to return to work.
Launched a pilot program with Nova Scotia Works in Halifax and Sydney that will help remove return-to-work barriers.
Refreshed return-to-work training materials for case workers and service providers, to promote alignment between roles and achieve better outcomes for workers.
Improved our Working to Well website, adding new case worker videos that address common questions workers may have about their return-to-work journey.
Developed employer-specific webinars, attended online and viewed afterward by hundreds of employers from across the province.
Contributed a regular column to Doctors Nova Scotia’s quarterly magazine from WCB’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Manoj Vohra.
Successfully supported 500 people injured at work through completion of the WCB’s Traumatic Psychological Injury program. Early results show that successful returns to work are improving.
Completed return-to-work refresher sessions for our service delivery teams, physiotherapists and chiropractors, to provide a common foundation for supporting better outcomes.
Our Plans
Implement new processes that will enable case workers to intervene and introduce return-to-work supports at the beginning of a claim, to help improve outcomes, reduce claim durations and minimize the likelihood that a claim will require long-term earnings replacement support.
Develop new return-to-work online support materials for employees and tiered service providers.
Expand upon our new “Getting Back is Part of Getting Better” campaign by developing materials that support better safety decisions in the workplace.
Create new and updated “Getting Back is Part of Getting Better” campaign content, tools and resources, in partnership with Atlantic colleagues to continually evolve the Working to Well program.
Explore opportunities with various sectors to advance new approaches to safe and timely return to work.