Disability Management aims to help people with disabilities to work effectively.  The process is often initiated as a result of sickness absence and aims to get people back to work as quickly as possible by both preventing and managing disability in the workplace. 

What are the benefits ?

A good Disability Management Service (DMS) should involve active participation by a variety of specialist health professionals, ergonomists and other professionals (e.g. counsellors) as well as a high level of social support from within the organisation.

It can encourage employers and employees to work together to

• change rigid employment practices
• identify what specialist adjustments, communication and social support might be needed
• find flexible ways of working that may benefit the whole workforce
• focus on what disabled people CAN do by making reasonable adjustments to the work system and not on what they cannot do
• help create an organisational culture where the awareness and understanding of disability is valued
• encourage those worried about declaring their disability due to fear of discrimination to “come out” and take advantage of the services the DMS provides.

Employees who have a stress-related illness or those with musculoskeletal disorders (the two most common causes of disability at work) are often those who really benefit from an organisation that has a good understanding of what disability is and how it affects individual people.

In 1981 the United Nations published a report concluding that it costs us more to remove disabled people from work and support them with benefits than it does to adapt the work model and enable them to return to work.  It does not take a great deal of time and money to make reasonable adjustments to the workplace and enable people who, despite being disabled, are perfectly capable of doing a job as well as anyone else.

How do you define disability?

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (amended 2005) states that employers must take reasonable steps to avoid discriminating against people with disabilities.  The legal definition of disability is far-reaching, for example; it includes people who have health conditions that can cause disability and recognises that different people are affected by health conditions in different ways.  In fact, there is no “defining moment” when a health issue can become a disability and many people who qualify under the DDA would not consider themselves as actually being disabled.  The majority of disabilities are acquired during later life and may be ‘invisible’, such as epilepsy or diabetes. 

Taking a holistic approach

Disability Management considers all the elements of the overall work system.  The following diagram shows the elements of a “work system”:

• The individual may interact with a computer program at work (technology), which is itself affected by the nature of the task they do (job/task design)
• The organisational culture (organisation) may make it difficult for an individual to bring up issues to do with lack of welfare facilities at work (work environment)
• The individual’s own capabilities (the individual) may influence the type of work they are best at doing (job/task design)

This illustrates how the work system is balanced by interactions between the five elements.  Any successful intervention will therefore need to avoid focusing on one area and take a holistic approach when making reasonable adjustments.  It is all too easy to fall into the trap of putting all the effort on one area without considering potential problems that might exist elsewhere.  A DMS will only be successful if it considers all the elements of the work system, ensuring that if there is a deficiency in one element then it can be balanced by making changes in another (for example, by using flexible working hours [job/task design] to enable the employee to avoid travelling on public transport during peak hours [the individual]).

Case Studies

Since November 2005, System Concepts has provided a disability management service to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR).  We run similar services for a large insurance company, a retail bank, a trade union body and a multinational energy services firm.

Measurable benefits for these organisations have included:

• reduced levels of musculoskeletal and visual discomfort, fatigue and stress
• faster average rehabilitation times
• decreased sickness and absenteeism rates
• increased staff productivity and efficiency
• increased job/task satisfaction
• decreased errors/increased accuracy
• decreased training costs
• reduced levels of injuries and accidents.

How can System Concepts help you?

System Concepts can set up and run a Disability Management Service for you, or provide specialist consultancy help to supplement your own in-house occupational health or health and safety services.  Most of our consultants specialise in one or more areas, such as accessibility, and have a wealth of experience in conducting return to work assessments, accessibility audits, in-depth workstation assessments and more.  Many of our consultants are from backgrounds that provide them with an invaluable insight into Disability Management, such as physiotherapy, psychology and medicine. 

If you would like further information please contact Charlie Turner on 0207 240 3388 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it