Designing Disability Management Program

You are the health and safety professional at a mid-sized unionized manufacturing organization. Management has never formalized how disability is managed, and the payroll clerk currently handles WCB claims, and the frontline supervisors manage non-occupational injuries, illnesses and disabilities. The payroll clerk has 12 years of experience managing WCB claims and is considered a competent, knowledgeable resource for this type of disability management.
There are no standard processes utilized to manage disability and there have been 2 grievances filed by the union involving disability management in the last 18 months. One grievance was related to the allegation by the union that a supervisor harassed an employee by frequently calling him at home to find out when he would be returning to work after an injury that occurred while the employee was on vacation. The other grievance involved a complaint that the payroll clerk was requesting confidential medical information with a WCB claim.
Both grievances were resolved by management meeting the union’s demands for a written apology in the first case and a commitment to not request medical information with all disability claims (both work and non-occupational claims) in the second case.
Management has informed you that disability management will be your responsibility and that management expects that grievances involving disability management issues will not occur in the future. The area of disability management has been assigned as a priority work function.
The organization’s demographic of employees is 550, 90% middle-aged men with some occupational health intervention performed by a part-time certified occupational health nurse (OHN). For reference, the video below provides an overview of the vital role OHNs play in industry.
In the effort to develop an integrated disability management program, answer each of the following questions:
1. How would you approach designing the program? What information would you review prior to designing the program?
2. How would you "sell" your program design to management?
3. What elements would you include in the program design? (Describe each element such as policy statement, purpose, etc)
4. Whom would you involve as resource individuals to the program? (What internal and external groups?)
5. Describe the role and responsibilities you would propose for the payroll clerk and OHN
6. How would you approach the education component of the program?
7. Whom would you involve in the implementation of the program and why?
8. What strategies would you utilize in an effort to prevent future issues with the union related to disability management (Describe each strategy.)?
9. How would you measure success of the program (metrics)?
*Tips on completing the assignment
• Remember to consider an integrated disability management program that encompasses both occupational and non-occupational disability in the workplace
• An average length of the assignment is 6-7 pages
• Cite at least 3 references from either the course content or other sources
• Review the grading rubric to understand the criteria prior to submitting your assignment
• Create your assignment in Microsoft Word format so your instructor can insert review comments.