Safe Work Australia Members and WHS ministers endorsed the Strategy in 2019, signifying their commitment to a national collaborative approach to support workers in their recovery and return to work.

The Strategy collectively examines and addresses current and emerging policy challenges to achieve positive return to work outcomes and minimise the negative economic, health and social consequences of being away from work due to work-related injury or illness.

In practice, the Strategy provides a framework to pull together current activity at the national and jurisdictional levels and to guide future work. It facilitates the sharing of outcomes and learnings, reduces siloed activity and duplication in effort between jurisdictions, and focuses on driving improvements in areas of national significance without necessarily prescribing scheme or legislative change.

SWA is responsible for coordinating the implementation of the Strategy, including measuring and reporting on progress. SWA and individual SWA Members share responsibility for progressing national initiatives under the Strategy.

The Strategy is aimed at stakeholders who influence work and workplaces including policy makers, workers’ compensation authorities, employers, union and industry groups, insurers and claims management organisations, treating health practitioners, workplace rehabilitation providers, and other worker advocates.

The Strategy is not intended to prescribe particular activities to be undertaken by these stakeholders. Rather, it is designed to be sufficiently broad so that all participants in the return to work process can determine how they can best contribute to improving return to work outcomes.

The Strategy recognises workers with a work‑related injury or illness as its primary beneficiary, with national action centred on supporting stakeholders to improve the worker’s journey through their recovery and return to work.

The Strategy focusses on work-related injury or illness but is likely to lead to better approaches for responding to and managing other injury and illness in the workplace and supporting work participation more generally.