- Home
- Promoting health and safety
- Creating mentally healthy workplaces
- Why is work health important?
- Healthy worker
- Working together: Promoting mental health and wellbeing at work
- Mental Health and Wellbeing - Participating and thriving in our workplaces
- The Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance
- Supporting ability at work
- Supporting health, performance and productivity
- Flexible work
- Building a resilient workforce
- Health Benefits of Work
- Roles and responsibilities
- Duty Holders
- Comcare research and innovation approach
- Health and safety representatives
- Investing in Experience: Age diversity in the workplace
- Education & training
- Work health and safety profiles
- Creating mentally healthy workplaces
- Preventing harm
- Early intervention
- Recovery and return to work
- Recovery and rehabilitation
- Roles and responsibilities - rehabilitation
- Workplace Rehabilitation Framework
- Rehabilitation guidelines
- Barriers to Return to Work
- Working with Workplace Rehabilitation Providers
- Rehabilitation assessment
- Medical certificate of capacity
- Capability Products
- National Return to Work Survey
- Workplace rehabilitation provider fee guidance
- Returning to work
- Returning to independence
- Recovery and rehabilitation
- Claims and benefits
- Forms & publications
- Engage
- The scheme
- The SRC Act
- Legislative Instruments and Gazettal Notices under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988
- Information on 2011 SRC Act amendments
- Information on 2009 SRC Act amendments
- Information on the 2007 SRCOLA Amendments
- Rehabilitation
- SRC Regulations Amendments 1988 to 1999
- SRC Regulations Amendments 2000 to 2009
- SRC Regulations Amendments from 2010
- Overview of the Comcare scheme
- The Parliamentary Injury Compensation Scheme
- The WHS Act
- The ARC Act
- Authorities we work with
- Premium paying employers
- Licensees
- Our compliance and enforcement activities
- Guidance on applying the SRC Act
- Regulatory guides
- Regulator Performance Framework
- Cost recovery
- Comparative claims
- Fraud
- Delegated claims management arrangements
- Feedback
- The SRC Act
- About us
- News & media
- Training
- Events
- Careers
On 11 April 2019 the Australian Government assumed a caretaker role, with an election to be held 18 May 2019.
Information on websites maintained by Comcare will be published in accordance with the Guidance on Caretaker Conventions until after the election and conclusion of the caretaker period.
Case management
Effective case management revolves around timely support, proactive communication and good coordination of relevant parties to achieve return to work outcomes.
The Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (SRC Act) provides for the rehabilitation of Commonwealth employees following a work related injury. The legislation is designed to make sure the employer (as the rehabilitation authority) is responsible and accountable for the safe and early return of their injured employee.
The employer—through the delegated case manager—is best placed to monitor incidents or absences, intervene early, create opportunities for suitable duties and make sure the employee is appropriately and actively managed to the best possible outcome following a work related injury.
The case manager's role is critical in reducing the impact of injury in the workplace. The section 41 guidelines state the rehabilitation authority should: ‘ensure that people with case management responsibilities have the skill, experience and influence to achieve effective return to work outcomes’.
The functions of a case manager fall broadly into two areas:
- operational—providing assistance to individual injured employees
- strategic—managing broader issues of return to work in the organisation.
An effective case manager not only coordinates the RTW process, but also actively manages it. They must effectively manage workplace relationships and their own personal work priorities and continuing development. The competencies reflect operational, strategic and management skills.
Guidance for case managers
To help rehabilitation authorities meet Comcare’s requirements, in consultation with agencies, we have developed guidance material on competencies for case managers. These aim to:
- make sure case managers are capable of performing their role and function
- support HR managers in the selection and ongoing skill development of case managers
- maximise the opportunity for the best possible outcomes for injured employees
- guide the content for the Comcare case management training
- provide a useful framework for employers on the skills and experience case managers need.
