NEWSFLASH
LAW AT WORK WELCOMES NEW BACK TO WORK
SCHEME Law At Work, the employment law specialist, has hailed the introduction of a new government-backed scheme that will help those on long-term sick leave return to employment as a good thing, but only if businesses choose to embrace it.
The phased rollout of the ‘Fit for Work’ scheme across the UK next month will make occupational health advice more readily available to employers and employees alike, in the hope it will enable them to manage sickness absence better, and result in a healthier workforce.
A government review of the UK’s sickness absence system revealed that over 130 million days are lost to sickness absence each year, costing in excess of £15 billion to the UK economy.
CHUBB WINS INTERNATIONAL
SAFETY AWARD Chubb Fire & Security Ltd has won an International Safety Award from the British Safety Council in recognition of its commitment to keep its workers and workplaces healthy and safe during the 2014 calendar year.
Now in their 57th year, the International Safety Awards seek to celebrate and promote the success of the winning organisations and their employees at maintaining a safe working environment for all. The 2015 award winners have demonstrated their commitment to preventing workplace injuries and work-related ill health to the satisfaction of the scheme’s independent judges.
Neal Stone, Acting Chief Executive of the British Safety Council, said: “Chubb Fire & Security on Shadsworth Road in Blackburn recognises the value that proportionate and sensible management of occupational
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health and safety risks brings to the organisation, its people and society.”
Mark Redding, Senior EH&S Manager at Chubb Fire & Security, commented: “To be recognised for this award
places great emphasis on the lengths that we go to as a company to ensure our staff are given a safe environment to work efficiently and effectively.”
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The new health and work assessment and advisory service will help businesses manage employees who have been ill and off work for more than four weeks. The employee can be referred to the state-funded service to help ensure that they have the appropriate support to help them return to work.
Donald MacKinnon, Director of Legal Services at Law at Work is urging businesses of every size to embrace the new scheme and the benefits it can bring to the workplace. He said: “Anything that gets people off long- term sickness is a good thing - not just for the individual, but for the business and the state.
“Employees on mid to long-term sickness absence can be referred by their GP for a free telephone health assessment and return to work advice. It is hoped that these steps could help ease employees back to work quicker and in a healthier position.”
He added: “The presumption of the government in establishing
the scheme was that referral of employees after four weeks would be mandatory. Yet, there are very good reasons why an employee might wish not to be referred – especially around patient confidentiality.”
Donald also emphasised that the scheme “should not detract from an employer’s duty to manage each absence appropriately.”
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