Our Services

Prowork Consultants offer a comprehensive range of injury prevention and workplace rehabilitation services, which can be tailored according to the needs of specific organisations.

 

Initial Needs Assessments / Case Management Services

Prowork Consultants offer rehabilitation services that assess the needs of injured workers for the purpose of developing a strategic plan of action to facilitate their safe and early return to the workplace.

Prowork Consultants supports current research, which supports the maintenance and / or resumption of normal activities as soon as possible after an injury, is beneficial to injured individuals. The goal of workplace rehabilitation is to minimise the impact of injury to all aspects of life and relevant parties involved. Our service delivery approach endeavours to implement the most effective options to ensure the earliest, safest and most appropriate RTW plan for the injured worker and their workplace.

We provide our clients with supportive, innovative and results driven outcomes. Prowork Consultants are committed to maintaining regular communication with key stakeholders involved in the rehabilitation process, ensuring a proactive and individualised approach.

Prowork Consultants services focus on returning injured workers to their pre-injury employer. However, if this is not possible after consultation with all relevant parties, Prowork Consultants will aim to determine the need for a vocational assessment early in the rehabilitation process, (so to be as cost effective as possible). Prowork Consultants recognises the importance of timely intervention as a critical success factor in returning injured workers back to durable employment. If it is determined that an injured worker will require vocational assistance with finding employment with a new employer, referral of the injured worker to a specialist in vocational assessment and rehabilitation will be implemented, once approval has been gained by all parties.
 

Workplace Assessments / Return to Work (RTW) – Suitable Duties (SD) Plans

The workplace assessment identifies the:

  • Critical physical, environmental, cognitive and psychosocial demands of the injured workers duties and workplace;
  • Needs of the injured worker and employer; and
  • Strengths, risks and barriers to develop prompt and appropriate strategies.


Where requested, the information obtained is used to develop a graduated RTW – Suitable Duties (SD) Plan in consultation with the treating doctor, employer and injured worker. By having a structured-graded RTW – SD Plan in place, it provides all parties with appropriate goals to work towards.

Workplace assessments are performed as part of the initial assessment in cases that have been referred for case management services. This service may also be used as a one off assessment.

Ergonomic / Workstation Assessments

In a workplace setting ergonomics is the science of designing the job to fit the worker.

Poor workstation design and work practices put workers at risk of injury and can lead to reduced productivity. Prowork Consultants can assist organisations with Primary Injury Prevention by identifying and reducing the potential risk of injury within the workplace by conducting an ergonomic assessment of the workstation and work environment.

Ergonomics is beneficial to your organisation because it optimises human well-being and overall system performance; and also results in a sufficient, safe and satisfying experience for employees.

The assessment examines the design of the workplace and tasks, as well as, the relationship between the worker and their job requirements; taking into consideration the worker’s stature and their ability to manage their work tasks, tools and the environmental demands.

The report provided outlines the identified risks and strengths; and includes cost effective recommendations for improving workstation design, workflow and work practices.

Functional Capacity Evaluations

Functional capacity evaluations performed include both standardised and non-standardised outcome measures designed to assess an injured worker’s existing and potential functional work capacity. They are performed by Occupational Therapists specialised in evaluating an injured worker’s performance against identified functional and work related criteria.

Functional capacity evaluations are a valuable tool for all parties (medical practitioners, treating physiotherapists etc) in directing appropriate medical treatment and assessment; and fundamental in making informed decisions regarding a realistic RTW goal. Furthermore, functional capacity evaluations can assist with the upgrade of medical capacity / certificates where appropriate, thereby allowing for progression within RTW process.

Vocational Assessments / Labour Market Analysis / Job Seeking


Prowork Consultants always strive to ensure that an injured worker returns to the most suitable level of employment, specifically when assisting with seeking durable employment with a different employer. The participants are immediately made aware of their obligations and responsibilities; and are guided and closely monitored through the redeployment / vocational retraining process. Our experienced vocational consultants ensure all parties (including the insurer and treating doctor) are fully informed of progress made; ensuring vocational options and successfully placements are in line with the injured worker’s functional capacities.

ADL assessments where impacting on ability to RTW


Our Occupational Therapists have significant experience in the area of ADL assessments. ADL assessments involve assessing an injured worker’s ability to perform self-care tasks and activities of daily living, and to make recommendations to improve their independence in these areas; hence assisting with recovery and RTW timeframes.

ADL assessments can be utilised in relation to pre and post-surgery, significant or catastrophic injuries and to review previously recommended services.

Medico-legal & Work Capacity Assessments


Prowork Consultants experienced team also provide Medico-legal and Work Capacity Assessments. Reporting may be based on an injured workers’ functional capacity, domestic / home requirements, return to work capacity, vocational and / or earning capacity. Reporting would be tailored to ensure client questions and / or requirements are objectively answered and thoroughly documented.

Occupational Dictionaries

Occupational dictionaries are valuable resources in providing treating medical practitioners / allied health professionals with accurate information pertaining to the critical physical, cognitive and environmental work demands of tasks performed at a particular workplace.

Treating medical practitioners are able to utilise this information to assist with the establishment of realistic RTW goals and contribute to informed decisions regarding injured worker’s capacity to carry out specific duties (with modifications where necessary) as part of the RTW process. This not only reduces downtime and loss of productivity for the organisation but also assists with minimising overall worker’s compensation premiums and lost time injuries; as treating medical practitioners have a greater understanding of the workplace and the availability of suitable or alternative duties.

Occupational dictionaries can also be utilised for pre-employment screening, to assist with the determination of whether candidates can safely perform the inherent requirements of the role.

Customised Training Programs in Workplace Ergonomics

Prowork Consultants develop and facilitate evidence-based training programs which assist employees to understand how ergonomics contributes to health and safety management.

Primary injury prevention is the key area where ergonomics programs can be implemented. Prowork Consultants training programs are designed to help reduce the incidences of workplace injuries by teaching safe work habits and focusing on the importance and implementation of ergonomic principles.

The content of the ergonomic training program can be customised according to the needs of an organisation.

Manual Handling Training Courses / Programs

A substantial number of all work related injuries in Australia occur during manual handling tasks. In some instances, the injured worker never achieves full recovery or may require an extended period of rehabilitation to facilitate a return to optimal functional capacity.

Prowork Consultants’ manual handling training services in accordance with Safe Work Australia’s ‘Hazardous Work Tasks – Code of Conduct’ (dated December 2011).

Based on general training requirements and extensive years of experience in the industry, Prowork Consultants offer various ‘customised training packages’.

The most cost and time effective option would be negotiated with an organisation to ensure the delivery of training packages which focus on evidence based education principles; an interactive based training approach, which includes both a practical and theoretical component. This is to enhance the learning experience.