Rising healthcare costs make safety and wellness orientation imperative for businesses.

Greater safety awareness, better training, safer equipment and more sophisticated engineering controls have brought about a steady decrease in workplace injuries in the last 10 years. Then why are workers' compensation costs rising? One reason is that healthcare costs in general are going up. As insurers pay more to medical providers, they pass their higher costs on to the insured.

Higher insurance rates are also driven by an aging population in need of surgeries and other expensive life-prolonging treatments. A lifetime of poor health habits is catching up with baby boomers on the way to retirement. Many have eaten unhealthy food all their lives and refused to exercise or quit smoking.

As a generation of workaholics, baby boomers are also prone to stressed-caused illnesses. Although employers have little influence over this decade’s large-scale demographic and socioeconomic drivers, they can control their own insurance costs by keeping employees safe and healthy, both on and off the job.

Prevention
OSHA’s regulations were developed in areas where workers suffered serious injuries and death to such an extent that government intervention became necessary. Manufacturers of equipment and work supplies have responded with innovative designs, from suspension systems to safety shoes, to cut-resistant gloves and other high-tech innovations not available 20 years ago.    

Company safety specialists have made considerable progress in eliminating potential hazards, for instance, through job hazard analysis that maps out an entire operation step by step. Depending on the results, they then implement engineering controls and training to prevent accidents.

Safety training firms have raised awareness of unsafe work practices and provided targeted curriculum to keep workers safe. It is clear that better training means fewer incidents, lower medical and workers’ compensation costs and greater profitability.    

About 15 years ago, safety consultants and trainers attempted to introduce ergonomics to raise awareness of prolonged, repetitive motions that can result in muscular-skeletal disorders (MSD) then called carpal tunnel disorder (CTD). However, ergonomic awareness and training remained unpopular because companies feared that introducing such ideas into the collective psyche of the work force would result in a flood of claims.

Their fear is not unjustified. If a worker claims to have wrist pain or elbow trouble, how can anyone determine whether it was caused by a workplace task, the worker’s tennis game or “weekend warrior” activities? The reality is what employees do at home can aggravate injuries sustained in the workplace and slow the healing process. Whatever their root cause, MSDs affect the bottom line, costing resources, causing downtime and perhaps resulting in lawsuits.   

Rather than opening the can of worms called ergonomics, the solution may be to implement engineering controls and train supervisors to perform job safety analysis. Without discussing ergonomics, supervisors can observe workers to make sure they maintain proper posture and use good body mechanics.

Get Proactive
The most proactive aspect of safety is wellness – not just preventing injuries, but promoting a lifestyle that keeps workers healthy physically, mentally and spiritually. As more companies recognize healthy employees are more efficient employees, off-the-job safety and wellness have become hot topics. Healthy people don’t just call in sick less often; they also have a greater sense of well-being and a better attitude. They are more focused on their tasks and more alert to possible hazards. Overall they are happier and can easier cope with stress.    

That’s why many companies are now extending their reach beyond the workplace to their workers’ personal activities, encouraging employees to take care of themselves to prevent illnesses and injuries, from eating a healthy diet to wearing a helmet while biking. Progressive employers offer wellness training for employees, covering health, fitness, proper nutrition, smoking cessation, off-the-job safety year-round and related topics.