Factors Affecting Success and Failure in a Return-to-Work Program Established for a Department of Defense Aircraft Maintenance Facility

The strategies influencing successful return-to-work (RTW) for injured/ill employees in the civilian manufacturing sector are well characterized in the scientific literature (Pransky and Shaw, 2007). Successful strategies include: preemptive surveillance of ergonomic risks, early identification and treatment of occupational illness, early return-to-work, institution-wide SUpp0I1 for and involvement in injury/illness reduction, and use of participatory ergonomic intervention processes. These have all been shown to reduce costs and lost-work time associated with occupational injury and illness (Talmadge and Melhorn, 2005).