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I spent much of October in Australia. My main purpose was to attend the third Australasian Compensation Health Research Forum (ACHRF) in Sydney. The forum had two full days of presentations and discussions along two themes: Day 1- Return to work and social participation and Day 2- Health and disability services delivery. While there is no substitute for personal participation in the conference, the organizers have made most presentations available on line.
My keynote presentation was an introduction to the first day and to the theme of return to work and social participation. I used an “environmental scanning” approach to highlight “Six Trends, Three Predictions and One Sure Thing: International Perspectives on Return to Work and Social Participation.” This presentation provided evidence for six trends in North America, Europe and the Australasian region and some predictions for what is coming next.
I touched on the following trends:
My keynote presentation was an introduction to the first day and to the theme of return to work and social participation. I used an “environmental scanning” approach to highlight “Six Trends, Three Predictions and One Sure Thing: International Perspectives on Return to Work and Social Participation.” This presentation provided evidence for six trends in North America, Europe and the Australasian region and some predictions for what is coming next.
I touched on the following trends:
My three predictions that will influence RTW in the future flowed from these trends and from other developments that are hard to ignore:
- Rise of social enterprise
- Mainstreaming Social Responsibility
- Enabling through Technology
- Improving through Comparison
- Dawning of BIG DATA
- Resetting Expectations
- Demographic Change: Unexpected Consequences
- Concepts of “Disability” will change….Dramatically
- Technology, for good and ill, will change everything
The goal of the presentation was not to solve the world's problems or to pass judgment on the trends identified. The goal was to invite the gathered researchers, administrators, policy makers and practitioners to lift their point of view from the narrow focus on jurisdiction and caseloads; to view the wider world of RTW and social participation in other jurisdictions; and to begin a process of discussion, research and action to improve outcomes for those that need it most.
A major advantage of participating in this event was the opportunity it afforded me to meet with reprentatives from agencies that share the mandate of WorkSafeBC. These included WorkSafe Victoria, the Transport Accident Commission (TAC), ACC, Comcare, WorkCover NSW and many researchers associated with the Institute for Safety and Compensation Recovery Research (ISCRR)— host of the event and sponsor of my participation. Those informal discussions provide the context essential to understanding the trends and results evident in other jurisdictions.
Even if you can't personally attend events like this one, the program and presentations provide a portal through which you may glimpse the direction of new research and the approaches of others to issues common to all. The world of workers' compensation, prevention, and RTW is small and many of the challenges we face are common. There is much to learn from each other. Exploring the presentations from this event may open new avenues of dialogue with our Australasian cousins.
About Terry Bogyo:
Terry is an active researcher, speaker and commentator on workers compensation issues. Now retired, he was the Director of Corporate Planning and Development for WorkSafeBC. His responsibilities included environmental scanning, strategic planning and inter-jurisdictional comparisons.
Terry says of himself: I am a student of workers' compensation systems. Many years ago I discovered two things about this area. First, workers' comp and OH&S are of vital importance to people. Protecting, caring for and providing compensation to workers are important, noble and morally responsible endeavors. The second thing I learned was that no matter how much I knew about workers' comp/OH&S, there was always so much more to learn. This is an endlessly challenging area of study. My purpose, therefore, is not to lecture, but to reflect on the ideas and issues that are topical in this area... and to invite others to share in a learning experience. By adding your knowledge and insights, others with similar interests can participate in the discovery and study of this important domain.
His blog is "Workers' Compensation Perspectives".
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