National Model for Workplace Rehab
Safety Concepts has been alerted to the news that the federal government intends to use Comcare to develop a national model for workplace rehabilitation.
“Work-related injury and illness has been estimated to cost the nation more than $60 billion every year,” said federal Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten in a recent media statement.
Comcare is the work health and safety regulator for the Commonwealth Government and some private organisations, including National Australia Bank and Linfox Logistics.
The states and territories have their own regulators to cover employers and workers outside of the Commonwealth jurisdiction.
As part of the plan to develop the national model, Comcare and the Institute of Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research (ISCRR) will coordinate a ‘national health benefits of work’ research program, Shorten says.
Comcare will also partner with The Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
Shorten says the partnership will develop a ‘therapeutic guideline’, trial a medical case conferencing model, test new ‘fit for work’ medical certification for workers in the Comcare scheme, provide support for GPs and define a national vocational rehabilitation policy.
