How to STOP injuries occurring at work? START by dropping the sick bay!
In Australia, it is mandatory that employers have workers compensation insurance for their employees. Injuries in the workplace happen every day and they costs businesses millions of dollars every year. So in recent times, there has been a big push towards early intervention.
Early reporting + early care + early management = early return to work.
This is the formula and the results have been pretty positive overall, but the shift of focus has created beer goggles employers.
Why?
Employers now promote “sick bay”, by placing services such as onsite physiotherapists or doctor’s onsite. By doing so, they are implementing best practice early intervention by reducing the time taken to diagnose and treat the injury. The problem is that employers create a concession, who doesn’t like a break from work to get a bit of hands on massage. But even more worrying, is that employers are focusing how they better treat injured workers rather than focusing on how they stop hurting them!
How?
The way employers stop hurting workers is to right size their abilities with the job task. At the time of employment, make sure your pre-employment assessment matches the physical demand of the job, by doing this you will pass stage one of your risk management. Stage two involves not isolating your efforts to a once off assessment at the time of employment, but rather keeping the message alive of ability matching demands. Promote conditioning, promote stretch and promote strength training!
What?
- Set up a gym rather than a sick bay at your workplace
- Get an Exercise Physiologist or Strength and Conditioning Coach to work with your workers on technique, strength and endurance specific to their jobs
- Emphasise the importance of safety and hazard ID
- Focus on posture and biomechanics
The take home message?
Every worker is an elite athlete in their own right, specific to their job. An AFL or NRL coach would not get their players to go on the field without PREPERATION and certainly wouldn’t wait for an injury to happen to treat it. Treatment happens before you step onto the field (or the office, warehouse floor or shop), it’s called PRE-HAB.
If you want help setting up a PROACTIVE rather than reactive workplace, contact us and watch the health of your business peak!