Governor
Schwarzenegger
changes how workplace injuries are evaluated. The new law that changes
how workplace injuries are evaluated, aimed at saving businesses in
California billions of dollars in workers' compensation insurance
costs, has received mixed reviews from business owners, insurance
carriers and Union officials.
The new system changes the factors determining how much money permanently
injured workers receive as compensation for their injuries and will
result in some workers who are not severely disabled, and still physically
able to earn a living, getting less money for their injuries.
It has been criticized by union officials and labor leaders and while
many California business owners and executives have expressed their
support for the new system, some are taking a different approach –
preventing injury, lowering absenteeism and keeping their workers
healthy and happy.
Frank Dominguez, a supervisor for the Los Angeles County Assessor’s
Office Special Investigators Unit, has spent many years bringing awareness
of ergonomics training to the County and the Union (Local 660) that
services Los Angeles county workers.
After trying various programs Dominguez heard about Future Industrial
Technologies (F.I.T.) and their programs delivered by healthcare professionals
who are trained as injury prevention specialists.
The Backsafe® and Sittingsafe®
programs are based on Bionomics TM, a field
within ergonomics training that includes the adjustment of the physical
environment and the body. These bionomic programs have been used in
diverse industries such as aerospace, municipalities, banks, hospitals,
warehouse/trucking firms as well as many small businesses to substantially
reduce workplace injuries and worker compensation costs.
The results of the program? LA County’s worker compensation
costs have been cut dramatically and where there were 19 to 20 claims
per year, there are now only one or two.
Mission Linen and Uniform Service of Santa Barbara, CA., is another
company that has chosen training to reduce worker compensation costs.
Mission Linen launders uniforms and linens for restaurants, hospitals
and other institutional organizations.
They have 50 locations in five western states, and 2,700 employees,
only 800 of whom are delivery drivers. Yet in 2003 they discovered
that their delivery drivers where responsible for almost half the
reported workplace injuries.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, delivery truck drivers
are considered a high incident occupation for back injuries. The Bureau
found that sitting in the same position while driving may cause as
much trouble as lifting large items once drivers arrive at their next
location.
“With our employees spread in small populations all over the
West we needed a tailor made workplace safety and ergonomic training
program that could be implemented site by site,” says Don Bock,
Director of Risk Management at Mission Linen. "We have used the
FIT program to train our delivery drivers in 15 locations so far and
we have yet to experience a back injury where the training has been
implemented. It’s cut our absenteeism to nothing and our insurance
costs are way down.”
This article may be reprinted in its entirety provided that the
following resource is left intact:
About
Future Industrial Technologies
FIT offers workplace safety and ergonomics training programs. Backsafe®
teaches employees how to perform their specific job tasks in a manner
that is biomechanically correct. Sittingsafe® teaches office employees
how to adapt their existing workstations so they are ergonomically
correct. These injury prevention programs make your workplace safer
and are proven to reduce injuries and worker compensation insurance
costs.
For more information contact Dennis Downing at:
Future Industrial Technologies, Inc.
350 South Hope Ave, Suite A201
Santa Barbara, CA 93105.
Tel: (805) 563-2225
Fax: (805) 563-2245
Email: info@backsafe.com
http://www.backsafe.com
