When workers and employers communicate and cooperate with each other after a workplace injury, it can improve return-to-work outcomes for both parties. An important step to help ensure a worker’s safe and timely return to work is to create a return-to-work plan.
Our online Return-to-Work Planning Tool gives you the opportunity to create customized return-to-work plans with ease and confidence, collaborate with your injured employee, and identify safe and suitable work that’s tailored to their abilities.
Your online guide to return-to-work planning
Our online tool is easy to use and helps ensure you meet your return-to-work responsibilities as an employer. Under the duty to cooperate, workers and employers are required to work together to find suitable, meaningful work for a worker after a workplace injury.
The tool offers you the ability to:
- Follow guided steps: Step-by-step prompts walk you through the entire planning process to ensure you’re asking the right questions, filling in the correct information, and following steps to create a safe and effective return-to-work plan.
- Collaborate conveniently: Work with your employee to find suitable duties for them and identify how they can safely contribute within their current abilities. Plans can be easily shared or worked on in tandem with workers, allowing for their input until the plan is signed off.
- Plan at your own pace: Access the tool from your computer, mobile device, or tablet and start return-to-work planning soon after an injury occurs. In most cases, you can start the planning conversation on the day of the injury.
- Manage all your plans in one place: See all your return-to-work plans at a glance, stay up to date on progress, and get notified when a worker makes a change or accepts your work offer.
- Customize a plan to meet your needs: Choose from a variety of templates to create a return-to-work plan based on modified duties, modified hours, or both. With time and healing, a worker’s abilities and function will likely increase. You can easily duplicate an existing plan in the tool and update it to create a new plan that matches your employee’s ongoing recovery until they are able to return to their regular job duties.
Sign up for online services
You’ll need an online services account to access the tool, as well any claim information and a variety of other tools. If you don’t have an online services account, review these instructions for creating one as an employer or as a worker. Encourage your employees to sign up so they can collaborate in the Return-to-Work Planning Tool with you.
How to use the Return-to-Work Planning Tool
Watch how to create, manage, and collaborate on safe and effective return-to-work plans.
Frequently asked questions
If your employee requests a change or adds new information to consider, you can access and update an existing plan by viewing the most current version under “Plan status” and then adjust and reshare for their review and acceptance. Once a worker has reviewed and accepted the final version of the return-to-work plan, you’re unable to make changes.
If available duties change in your workplace or your employee’s abilities change as they recover, you’re encouraged to duplicate the plan and use that as the basis to create a new plan.
At this time, you can only use the tool to create plans for workers who have a WorkSafeBC claim number.
Some claims, including those that involve mental health, sensitive information, or severe injuries, are not currently available in the Return-to-Work Planning Tool. Please contact our Claims Call Centre or reach out to our Return to Work Consultation and Education Services team for assistance.
The Return-to-Work Planning Tool is only accessible with an online services account. If your employee needs help, ask them to review Creating an online services account as a worker. If they’re unable to sign up for an account, you can collaborate with them by phone, share a PDF, or print out the plan for them sign and agree to.
Using the online Return-to-Work Planning Tool is optional and entirely your choice. If you have a different system you use to facilitate return-to-work planning, you can use the format and process that works best for you. WorkSafeBC offers a variety of tools and downloadable templates to support you with return-to-work planning, including the online return-to-work planning tool.
The system works best when you can see the latest updates in the system. If you want to get alerts by email when a change is made, please sign up for email notifications. You can turn notifications off at any time. If you don’t have notifications enabled, you’ll be able to see the latest progress to each plan in your plan history.
The information you provide in your return-to-work plan is not used by WorkSafeBC to make a decision about whether a claim will be accepted. We may use the information to confirm that a suitable return-to-work offer is in place and that both parties are cooperating in the process. Once you have an accepted plan, it will be uploaded to the worker’s claim file.
All the information in our online services is protected behind a secure server log in, and two-factor authentication for your security.
We’re here to help
To speak to someone about the claims process or the status of a claim, please call our Claims Call Centre toll-free at: 1.888.967.5377 (1.888.WORKERS).
If you have questions or concerns about starting your employee’s return-to-work plan, please contact Return to Work Consultation and Education Services at 604.279.8155 or toll-free at 1.877.633.6233 or email RTW-CES@worksafebc.com. This team can help answer questions related to return-to-work planning, provide consultation, and support you in using the online Return-to-Work Planning Tool.
Resources
Visit our return-to-work webpages for more information and resources for workers and employers.
Return-to-work planning
- Managing a Safe Return to Work
- How to support workers who have common physical injuries
- Identifying Worker Capabilities
- Common Household/Work Items — Load Handling by NOC Strength Category
- Return-to-work strategies to support workers who experience psychological injuries: A resource for employers
- How to support workers who experience psychological injuries
Creating an online services account