Call for employers to rehabilitate staff injured at work

The
TUC has called on the government to introduce legislation that will force
employers to introduce rehabilitation policies for sick and injured employees.

It
claims that 19 million days are lost each year through workplace injuries and
illness and wants to see the issue addressed through the forthcoming Safety
Bill.

The
TUC believes that legislation is the only way that the Health and Safety
Commission will reach its target of reducing absence due to work-based injury
and illness by 30 per cent in ten years.

TUC
figures show that only 23 per cent of employees provide access to
rehabilitation for injured employees but 30 per cent of employers use sickness
absence monitoring for disciplinary purposes.

“Employers
have a legal duty to prevent injury and illness and a legal duty to pay
compensation where they fail, but no duty to get the people they injure back to
work and fitness. Rehabilitation is the missing link,” said TUC’s policy
officer Owen Tudor.

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www.tuc.org.uk

By Paul Nelson