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You're listening to Rancia's Studio One Podcast, where each week we break down complex insurance and safety topics to help your business thrive. I'm your host, Alyssa Burley, and today I'm joined by Brenda Colby, client technology specialist with Rancia Mesa. And we're going to discuss using Rancia Mesa resources for Return to Work programs. Brenda, welcome to the show.
Hey Alyssa, happy to be here. Now, avoiding injuries on the job should be every employer's goal, but despite their efforts, injuries can still happen. Now, if an employee is injured on the job, a return to work program is an important part of helping that employee reintegrate into the workplace. So, Brenda, can you explain why these programs are key to an employee's safe return?
Absolutely. If an employee's ability to work is limited for an extended amount of time, that employee could be at risk of leaving their job or dropping out of the labor force entirely. Developing a return to work program can be a cost-saving tool for employers by reducing the number of weeks an employee is not working and also lowering worker's compensation costs. An effective return to work program will allow an injured employee to recover while supporting continued productivity through modified duties.
Okay, so how should an employer go about developing a return to work program? Well, there are no strict guidelines for a return to work program, but there are some best practices for developing a program that works for you and your business. An effective return to work program starts with timely reporting of on-the-job injuries. If an injury or illness occurs on the job, having clear and up-to-date policies is a necessity.
A sample injury and accident response and reporting policy is available on Rancho Mesa's RM365 HR Advantage Portal. You may also be required to log the injury or illness in your OSHA 300 and 301 logs. Recording of OSHA log data is also available in the RM365 HR Advantage Portal, and additional information regarding OSHA log requirements can be found on the Rancho Mesa website. All right, so once an employee is ready to return to modified work duties, what resources for Rancho Mesa do you recommend employers use to start that transition?
So when an employee is ready to return to work, we recommend providing the employee with a release and return to work acknowledgement letter. It outlines their modified duties and accommodations. A template is available through the RM365 HR Advantage Portal. An employee may also be required to perform modified or reduced duties while preparing to return to their job.
Temporarily working for a nonprofit organization or completing online safety training can be used as a task or transitional step towards getting the employee back to their normal job duties. Rancho Mesa provides two extensive libraries of safety and professional development trainings that can be used in a return to work program, and these safety trainings can be accessed through the safety one platform while the professional development trainings are located in the RM365 HR Advantage Portal. Those are all really great resources for an employee looking to start work again without returning to full job duties right away. So Brenda listeners have questions about Rancho Mesa's resources.
What is the best way to get in touch with you? As always, clients can contact me at bechaleal at rancho mason.com or call me directly at 619-486-6562. All right, well Brenda, thank you for joining me in Studio 1. Thanks for having me.
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