Assessing the current RTW system

An informal audit uses a series of ad hoc measures to assess your
return to work system.

1.	Analysing the financial costs;

2.	Understanding the most common injuries; and

3.	Obtaining feedback from employees, supervisors and managers about the current system, as well as their ideas for improving it.

Things to look out for include:

•	High levels of work absence;

•	Slow reporting of injuries; and

•	The average time off work for illness / injury compared to other organisations, or other sites within the same organization.

Ask about:

•	The process around initial injury reporting;

•	The process for obtaining medical treatment;

•	Approaches to return to work; and

•	Support with return to work duties.

Staff interviews can yield crucial information about the systems (or lack of systems) currently in operation.

For more detail about the kind of information that is useful in assessing the system, see our section on Collecting case data.

Informal Audit