By
Dr Vince Portera, D.C.
Everyday organizations
deal with worker injuries such as back sprains or strains, disk injuries,
neck and shoulder injuries, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and a host of
other musculoskeletal disorders (MSD’s). Recent data indicates
that upwards of $60 to $80 billion are spent each year on such injuries.
For example, the average cost of a back surgery is $40,000. According
to the Chubb Corporation it costs $35,000 to $75,000 for a carpal
tunnel case. In addition, the indirect costs are staggering—estimated
at three to five times the direct costs.
Unfortunately, businesses and their workers’ comp service providers
focus primarily on managing the injury and controlling the costs after
the injury occurs. The prevailing thought seems to be “I cannot
eliminate injuries, so I will try to control them”.
The good news is, there is now a way to prevent tomorrow’s claims.
The emphasis can shift from “injury management” to “injury
prevention” and the benefit to employees’ health and their
productivity. As a bonus, workers’ comp costs typically decline.
Learning by Doing,
Not by Watching
Many companies in the past have instituted training that has proven
largely unsuccessful. In fact, the New England Journal of Medicine
reported that “back programs” do not work.
However, most training programs rely on videos, lectures, handouts,
or slide presentations. Although the information covered in these
types of media is largely accurate and up-to-date, the long-term success
and return-on-investment is questionable. Why? It is difficult to
learn a true kinetic activity like lifting a box off a pallet or stocking
products on a shelf from a sedentary medium such as a video. Learning
a physical activity requires one-on-one instruction and physical practice
of that activity.
Learning for Life,
Not Just Work
Another issue to consider is the employee’s “whole”
life (24/7), not just their work life. A typical employee working
40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year, or 2,000 hours per year, spends
only about one-quarter of their time at work. The vast majority of
time is spent away from work, at home, in recreation, or even on a
second job. Whatever is taught must provide the tools and skills that
can be applied throughout life, not just on the job.
The objective of a successful training protocol must be to teach people
how to prevent physical stress, as well as how to relieve accumulated
stress. And it must be information they can apply during all daily
activities.
The question remains, how do you disseminate this information to your
employees so they “get it” and it changes behavior?
Based on the experience of teaching thousands of employees in various
retail, industrial, and corporate environments we have developed a
specific, nine-step training methodology that positively affects employee
behavior. To better understand this approach, it may be helpful to
contrast the term BIONOMICS™ with ergonomics.
Ergonomics focuses on how the environment affects the individual
BIONOMICS focuses on the proper management of the human body at work
and in life. It incorporates the use of proper and safe body mechanics,
correct posture and stretching to facilitate better blood and nutrient
flow into muscles, with improved waste product flow out of muscles.
This allows muscles to remain flexible, strong and efficient.
An effective program delivered by a health care professional follows
these key steps:
1. Pre-assessment. The first step necessary is observing employees
at work, interviewing them, and learning how they do their jobs.
2. Design and Customization. Based on the pre-assessment, a training
workshop can be designed and customized for each job description.
A cookie cutter approach such as a video that applies to all jobs
is simply not workable. You are not going to get employee buy in when
the material that they study seems irrelevant to their job.
3. Introduction. In reality, most employees are antagonistic toward
safety training, thinking that they already know everything or that
the company just wants to take care of itself. Ultimately, you want
your employees to take personal responsibility for their own wellness
and safety off the job as well as on. Using the WIFFM principle (What’s
In It For Me) is highly successful in breaking down these barriers
to learning. This is achieved by utilizing specially trained health
care experts as instructors and delivering to small groups—typically
not larger than 15 employees.
4. Theory. Employees need to learn principles that can then be applied
to real life situations.
5. Stretching. Stretching exercises both prepare the body for work
and relieve accumulated physical stress.
6. Obstacle Course. Employees practice under trained supervision,
rotating through multiple stations where they practice specific job
tasks germane to their own job tasks. Employees learn not only how
to correctly perform tasks, but they also observe their coworkers
performance.
For office workers, the obstacle course might use mock computer stations
where they learn sitting principles and the “whys and hows”
to set up a workstation. In effect, they can then go out and set up
any workstation in the world and adapt it specifically for their body.
7. Questions and Answers. Employees should be given ample opportunity
to ask questions and clarify issues
8. Quality Control. Participants should always be encouraged to fill
out course critiques, evaluating both instructors and content.
9. Commitment. Like any good training or educational program, employees
should be asked to communicate what they have learned and to commit
to using the techniques immediately in their lives.
The Right Methodology
Produces Results
Companies who use BIONOMIC training methodology experience profound
results. A major airline recently noted a nearly $3 million savings
over a 10 month period after BIONOMIC training for nearly 5,000 baggage
handling employees in several U.S. cities.
In every company, there are challenges to getting employees to work
safely, efficiently, and with confidence. The truth is most employees
do not want to get hurt. It is devastating to them and their families,
as well as their employers. They simply have not been taught how to
use their bodies correctly so that they can minimize the daily innocent
stresses and preserve their quality of life not only today and this
weekend, but for years to come.
Employees, unions and employers all win when injuries are prevented.
Using this training system is very workable in forwarding the goal
of an injury free workplace.
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
