RTW SUCCESS STORIES
Star Donovan Success Story with Return to Work
Star Donovan, Brooklyn, NS
Human Resources Manager, Head Office – Liverpool, NS, Mersey Seafood
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Star Donovan has been involved with creating the Return to Work toolkit with the Fisheries Safety Association since the beginning and has tremendous success with her own Return to Work program within Mersey Seafoods.
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“My first step is to get my injured employee into Physical therapy to assess what they are capable of doing and then the physical therapist visits our facility to determine what jobs the employee can safely perform.”
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Mersey Seafoods had a gatehouse that was inactive, and it was fixed it up for the purpose of creating jobs for employees returning to work with limitations.
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“We had the gatehouse fixed up and we put all the amenities everything in there because one of our employees was injured on a boat. The employee injured one of his hands and was unable to return to the boat. In the gatehouse we were able to accommodate to his injury so he could work Safely with one hand.”
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It’s easy to see that Star puts effort into finding suitable work for her injured employees.
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"The employees with limitations help in the stock room and the gatehouse. In the gatehouse there are always two employees so if someone wants to use the washroom they can and one of them can go for a walk if they need to, it’s the same way for the stock room. They trade off between the stock room and gatehouse, they need to be able to stand, sit, walk, do what they need so their bodies can heal. Also, the mental health aspect is important. Being alone is no fun so we don’t like to have employees working alone, that is why we pair them up.”
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Star also wanted to give her employees roles in which they could move freely and not be stagnant so their bodies can heal properly. Star also took into consideration the Mental Health aspect and ensures that no one employee ever works alone.
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For Star what is most important is to keep her employees safe and at the workplace. Being at Mersey Seafoods you get a strong sense of a family bond among the employees and Star, this affects all aspects of their operations, including Return to Work and Safety.