A return-to-work assessment helps to identify or confirm if a worker has health limitations that might affect their ability to work without harming themselves or others if they return to the workplace.
Typically, employers do return-to-work or RTW medicals to ensure that employees have recovered from an injury (workplace or otherwise) that required them to miss time off work. Why do these assessments?
- so that a worker can be assigned to a position for which he or she is more suitable,
- so that a job can be modified to provide safe work for the worker while protecting the interests of the organization.
- to minimize the possibility that a worker will be re-injured or aggravate an unhealed injury
- to minimize the costs of worker’s compensation in case of a re-injury or aggravation
Employers may also be able to obtain relief from the WSIB or Workers Compensation second-injury fund should an employee have pre-existing conditions.
Occu-Med conducts return-to-work medicals using our national network of health service providers.
Our Medical Staff can:
- determine which health specialty is best qualified to conduct the RTW medical
(depending on the employee’s injury) - assign the RTW medical to the correct health specialty
- arrange for all the required paperwork to meet employer, injurer and WSIB needs
- provide medical opinions and the required ‘fit letters’