New Brunswick’s auditor general says WorkSafeNB deficiencies are preventing injured workers from returning to work in a timely manner.
In a report released last week, Kim MacPherson said WorkSafeNB has no initial contact with a worker to assess their injury and determine immediate steps.
MacPherson said WorkSafeNB also does not develop case plans with return-to-work goals, proposed treatments and a forecasted recovery date.
“It would be difficult to motivate a vulnerable injured worker to return to work without outlining their expected recovery in a comprehensive case plan,” said MacPherson in a news release.
“Ultimately, WorkSafeNB is missing an early opportunity to communicate a critical part of the recovery process to injured workers.”
MacPherson said the agency’s current claims management system is “ineffective” and lacks automation.
“WorkSafeNB’s system only provides the ability to review claims one by one. There are no dashboard reports to provide a summarized view of performance metrics,” read MacPherson’s report.
“Also, we noted WorkSafeNB has no built in tool or a convenient way for users to extract data from the claims management system for further analysis.”
The auditor general has made 29 recommendations she said will promote a “timely and safe return to work.”
They include allocating claims to case managers based on types of injuries, further training and adopting more computer automation for routine tasks.
“The deficiencies we found, whether large or small, collectively affect WorkSafeNB’s ability to proactively manage injured worker cases and can delay time-sensitive treatment,” MacPherson said.
Douglas Jones, president and CEO of WorkSafeNB, said in a statement they accept all of MacPherson’s recommendations.
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