Mark successfully completed his training in mid January and not long after was offered a job as a Scaffolder. Sadly Mark didn’t have the money to purchase the required scaffolding tools but he was determined to attend his first day of work and was consequently ridiculed by some of the other "scaffies". Nevertheless, Mark persisted with his new role and was assigned tasks which did not require him to use any specialised tools. Mark was upset that he might not be able to continue working in this role for much longer without the required tools.
Luckily, the owner of Scaffolding Training Australia was willing to lend a helping hand, and gave Mark some used tools at no charge. Actevate also helped out by purchasing some additional tools so Mark that he could continue working and keep his spirits up.
Consequently in early February, Mark received his first paycheck in over 2 years. He is now planning to gain enough expense so that he can work in the mining industry. Mark is also in the process of saving for a deposit to buy a house.
Mark is still not fully recovered, but he is a great example of someone becoming a victor, rather than a victim, and turning his life around in a matter of 8 weeks.
*Names have been changed to maintain privacy
Richard Thorpe, Actevate Rehabilitation Consultant
White Collar Injuries on the Increase
In the 2008/2009 period, white collar professionals had the highest number of employment injury claims of all occupations in NSW (8,268). This equated to a total gross incurred cost of $152million, Source. 2008/2009 Statistical Bulletin, published by and found on the WorkCover website. Research has found that improved comfort and workstation efficiency for workers has positive benefits for productivity, the quality of work produced and overall workplace morale. A proactive approach to ergonomics is a cost effective way of protecting the health of workers and minimising injuries, thus reducing absenteeism and the costs associated with Workers Compensation Claims.
The Importance of Ergonomic Assessments
Ergonomics refers to "the science of designing the workplace environment to fit the user", and looks at the interaction between the person and their workplace and equipment. Research has found that many professionals report suffering from neck, shoulder, upper back or lower back pain at some point in their working lives. The easiest way to minimise the risk of your staff suffering a work-related injury and possibly claim, is to ensure that health and safety is a high priority in your workplace. This includes having workstations designed and set-up as ergonomically as possible. Staff’s workstations can be assessed on an individual basis and
must take into account the persons height and body
shape, the physical requirements of the task, and the
frequency and duration.
Actevate’s Ergonomic Assessments are completed by a team of allied health professionals including Occupational Therapists and Exercise Physiologists. Actevate recommends a proactive rather than a reactive approach to ergonomics whereby areas of potential improvement are dealt with prior to the occurrence of an accident or workplace injury. Inadequate knowledge regarding the principles and importance of appropriate posture combined with unsuitable work methods will increase the likelihood of premature fatigue, human error and persistent discomfort over a long period of time.
Actevate’s Ergonomic Assessments are aimed at risk management and the prevention of injuries by educating employees in the correct set up of their workstations, assessing for equipment requirements, and providing functional education in the correct working postures and techniques. Workers are also provided with education regarding the importance of work organisation, including varying tasks and taking allocated breaks so that postural diversity is achieved throughout the day.
Jacquie Davies, Rehabilitation Consultant & Nicola MacCue, Exercise Physiologist
Over the last 5 years Actevate has grown from a two men business that was 
created on a dining table to a well established rehab provider with 20 full-time staff. Due to the ongoing support of our clients and Actevate’s strong commitment to building valuable relationships we have experienced organic growth ensuring that the high quality of our services has remained. We have recently expanded our services into the Newcastle area and we are now able to provide Return to Work same and different employer services.
And thanks to our latest Newcastle recruit Gillian we also offer Occupational Therapist assessment.
Our service areas now include Wollongong, Sydney Metro and Newcastle and through our business partners we are represented in VIC, QLD and regional NSW.
If you like to find out more about our services please contact Anna Mangold on 9222 7409.
Actevate would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We hope that everyone has a relaxing, enjoyable and safe break and we look forward to working with you in the next year.
We would like to thank all our customers for their support and generosity this year. We have really appreciated and enjoyed working with you on a daily basis in empowering people back to work.
Please note that our office will be closed over the Christmas period from the 24th of December 2010 and returning on the 4th of January 2011. During this time if you need to contact Actevate please call our office on 1300 663 155 to leave a message and/or obtain emergency contact details.
KidsXpress is a dynamic expressive therapy program for children 4-14years old who have faced significant challenges, loss and or trauma in their lives. Duringthe KidsXpress program kids are finding ways to cope with their situation through music, art and drama therapies, providing kids with the foundation to learn positive coping mechanisms for life. Many life tragedies such as being bullied at school, the separation of parents, witnessing domestic violence, receiving chemotherapy for cancer, watching your sibling or parent die, or being subjected to abuse & neglect can all have devastating effects on the child and their future to cope with life.
Actevate is committed to empowering people back to work and make a fundamental difference where they can to injured workers. Robert Migliore’s passion to support the human condition and its potential inspired him to seek places where he can add value to society. This personal mandate not only led him to establish Actevate but also to support KidsXpress.
Having been involved with KidsXpress since 2006 the partnership between KidsXpress and Actevate took a slightly new direction this year by providing an amazing opportunity for children to express themselves through photography. In August last year Robert was so deeply moved by a photography exhibition by mentally ill people in the Orange community curated by Vince Lovecchio that he immediately offered this opportunity to KidsXpress. Twenty (20) children who had completed the KidsXpress program were given a disposable camera and a notebook to capture images and narratives of their lives. This powerful event displayed the courage and healing of children with emotions to big too deal with alone. The result was an extraordinary exhibit that honored the child’s journey of self discovery whilst displaying such rare insights into their world.
This experience opened up the world of possibility for children to tell their story through photography but first Robert took the extraordinary task of putting himself in the child’s shoes. Together with Vince Lovecchio, Robert guided these twenty children through his experience of taking his own photos revealing his vulnerability whilst role modeling that it is ok to show your feelings and emotions. The children were captivated and what resulted were images and comments back from the children that spellbound even the hardest of hearts at the KidsXpress Life thru a Lens Exhibit at the Art Gallery of NSW in February this year.
The comments and feedback from this night of wonder and intrigue were extraordinary however it was the look on the parents and children’s faces that was priceless. As The Honorable Linda Burney, Minster of Community Services took the stage the audience was shocked with statistics and moved to hear of the importance KidsXpress plays in keeping our kids safe. However it was her words ‘how it takes a village to raise a child’ and most of all ‘love’ that brought to life not only the program but the true element of giving and support. One of my favorite memory’s from this evening is when a 12 year old girl nervously stood on stage to sing ‘I believe I can fly” and in the moment when she faltered the Actevate staff began to sing the chorus with her – a moment when the village raised a child to believe in herself!
It was some time later that we once again got to display the exhibit for the art community at Silver Pixel Studio, Newtown in October. Again moments of emotion and a deep sense of connectedness was brought forth from the images via the audience. The message from this exhibit continues to touch and transform lives in a way I did not appreciate nor comprehend when Robert first spoke to me about this concept. I am so pleased that he managed to convince me KidsXpress should do this and forever grateful Actevate supported us to make it a reality for so many kids.
We once asked a child why other kids should be able to come to KidsXpress and this 5 year old little girl said “Well because every child has a right to believe they can be amazing”. Actevate's commitment to KidsXpress is amazing and because of their support and others like them, kids are believing they have that right too.
If you are interested to find out more about this innovative program please visit our web site on www.kidsxpress.org.au or contact KidsXpress on (02) 9380 9220.
I was honoured to present a Pathways Injury Management™ workshop to members of the Return to Work Coordinator Interest Group meeting on 14 October 2010. This article is a summary of the workshop.
The vast majority of workers’ compensation claimants will return to work with minimal rehabilitation. A relatively few claimants, however, will be responsible for most of an organisation’s claims experience due, in essence, to the length of time they remain off work. Some of these (potentially) long term claimants will have suffered a high severity physical or psychological injury but our research has shown that most of these claimants have suffered no more than a relatively minor physical or psychological injury, their (continuing) symptoms being due to a disturbance in their psychosocial functioning unrelated to the reported occurrence or activity. These findings are supported by experienced disability claims handlers who report that more than three-quarters of their most problematic cases started out as seemingly minor problems¹.
We have found that, with long term claimants reporting musculoskeletal symptoms:
We have also found that the diagnoses of treating practitioners, with these (potentially) long term claimants reporting musculoskeletal symptoms, are usually of a physical nature whereas, through a more comprehensive physical and psychosocial assessment of these claimants, the diagnoses are, typically, more psychosocial in nature, consistent with evidence based medicine. The difference in diagnostic formulations will be related to the time constraints typically imposed on treating practitioners and the lack of information about psychosocial stressors which may be impacting on their patients.
This finding can be summarised as follows:
With long term claimants, there are typically marked differences between the diagnoses made by treating practitioners and those made through more comprehensive assessments which explore, in greater detail, the claimants’ psychosocial functioning.
If the diagnostic formulation is incorrect, the claimant would be expected to continue to report (disabling) symptoms and not (successfully) return to work.
Pathways Injury Management™ is a structured process of identifying these potentially long term claimants as early as possible through the use of a comprehensive assessment incorporating Poor Prognostic Indicators™; adequate and appropriate information gathering about the claimant’s condition as well as from the workplace so that, with the use of a decision support tool, the diagnostic formulation is correct; and a structured and systematic intervention with the claimant being “taken down” an appropriate injury management pathway to the resolution of the claim.
The Pathways Injury Management™ process, which integrally involves the treating practitioners, is summarised below:
1. Information Gathering
Accident/Incident Report Form (mechanism of injury)
Workplace Functioning Assessment
Structured medical assessment
Other information is collected as required
2. Assessment & Recommendations
Assessment Report & Recommended Rehabilitation Program
3. Consultation
Consultation with claimant
Consultation with treating practitioner
4. Rehabilitation Program
Implementation of recommended Rehabilitation Program
The Pathways Injury Management™ provides organisations with the structure, processes and resources so that they can effectively and efficiently manage their workers’ compensation claims, with resultant benefits to both the organisation and their employees.
With the introduction of Pathways Injury Management™, organisations would expect a reduction in case management costs by at least one third; a markedly improved workers’ compensation claims experience (with more fair and equitable outcomes in common law); and reduced rehabilitation costs.
Actevate is the accredited implementation partner for the Pathways Injury Management program. Please call 1300 669 552 for more information.
References:
1. Preventing Needless Work Disability by Helping People Stay Employed – American College of Occupational & Environmental Medicine
ISS is a global company with nearly 500,000 employees world-wide. In Australia they have over 22,000 staff and are the largest facility services provider in the country. ISS recently took over the contract at Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) and conducted a review of workplace practices. Peter Karlsson, Quality and Compliance Manager for ISS, had a number of concerns, including; the number of staff with existing injuries, the quality of previous staff training, workplace manual handling techniques and the culture within some of the departments that did not encourage appropriate manual handling. Accordingly Peter approached Actevate to develop and deliver a tailored manual handling training program for all staff.
Actevate conducted an on-site task analysis of eight departments within the hospital, including; security, food-service, cleaning, materials handling, linen, waste, office and SSO’s. The Actevate Team observed staff working within each department, investigated high-risk tasks, and consulted staff members on issues they believed needed addressing. This consultative approach provided a better understanding of the issues on the ground and enabled tailored presentations to be created for each department.
The roll-out of the training program involved delivering 36 one and a half hour sessions to hundreds of staff. Each session included theory and interactive exercises customized to each role. To ensure the training was as practical as possible, exercises were conducted in the departments or equipment was brought into the training room. This allowed for real-life examples to be observed, discussed and practiced by staff.
Attendees received a tailored handout with information on correct manual handling technique and specific stretches to minimise their risk of injury at work. The stretches were practiced during the training sessions, encouraging staff to implement them as a regular part of their work day. To further reinforce behavioural change posters illustrating relevant stretches were placed in high visibility areas around the hospital.
The interactive and group-focused nature of the training encouraged a ‘team spirit,’ overcoming some of the cultural resistance that existed in certain departments, moreover the personalised approach gave individual staff members the courage to voice concerns over practices they believed were leading to injury management and safety issues.
Participants in the training showed a great amount of enthusiasm, especially with the practical exercises, and demonstrated an improved knowledge of correct manual handling techniques within the workplace. Actevate and ISS will continue to monitor behavioural changes in the workplace and the resulting decrease in injuries at RNSH.
For more information on tailored Manual Handling Training please visit our web site or call 1300 669 552.
injured workers? 
The essential requirements of a Pre-Employment Medical or Periodic Medical Assessment are:
The medical examination is directly related to the workers duties.
The examination is completed in a manner that does not give rise to a liability pursuant to Anti-Discrimination, OH&S and EEO acts.
The specific physical requirements to safely perform the job have been accurately identified prior to the assessment.
Accommodating people wihtout the inherent physical characteristics must have been considered.
If you would like any further information on Pre-Employment or Periodic Medical Assessments please visit the Actevate web site or call 1300 669 552.
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