Posted by Company Wellness | Posted in Company Wellness, Wellness Programs | Posted on 10-08-2010
Other departments within an organization will likely focus on related areas of employee safety and injury prevention. Wellness activities are a natural partner to many other HR (HR), employee motivation, and safety programs.
Body mechanics, ergonomics, and safe working practices are three areas which might be coordinated together.
• Soft Tissue Sprains and Strains – This injury category continues to remain the number one financial loss for workers’ compensation. A lot of medical insurance dollars are also spent on back pain, other sprains, and strains. Health Promotion and safety efforts can focus on –
• Warm up stretches before beginning work or periodic stretching during work. These can do much to prevent soft tissue injury. Provide training to work groups so they may start a stretching program. These groups can then continue their own.
• The wellness committee might consider contracting a fitness professional to come in and conduct stretching “refreshers” for worker groups throughout the year.
• Make available body mechanics training each year or more frequently if possible. These training sessions should focus on work related tasks and safety, as well as feature a segment on home tasks and body safety.
• Partner with your company’s workers’ compensation carrier to assist in providing body mechanics training, job safety analysis, and other preventive services which can help workforce work safer, smarter, and avoid injury.
• Implement a safety concerns suggestion box. Be sure to encourage personnel to report safety and/or injury concerns. Be sure to help senior management to establish policy to recognize and reward personnel who offer safety suggestions, provide tips, and solution ideas.
• A periodic presentation featuring a local medical provider addressing such topics as safe body mechanics, recovering from a back injury, appropriate spine care, etc.
• Partner with executive management and supervisor teams to recognize and reward work groups who are successful with safety and injury prevention.
• The ergonomics of an employees’ workstation/work place design is important and applicable to every group.
• Offer ergonomic training opportunities to interested workforce volunteers. These individuals can then assist other workforce to assess their work areas for safety, comfort, and injury prevention.
• It’s often more effective to have an observer evaluate workers for helpful and friendly comfort suggestions rather than it is for individuals to assess themselves.
• One suggestion is to have workers remind one another about correct posture, to take breaks, to stop and do quick mini stretches, etc.
• Take before and after photos of work areas as changes are made. This will help to demonstrate how small adjustment changes can often make large comfort changes.
• Partner with the company’s workers’ compensation carrier to help create ergonomic policies and practices and to provide staff member training.