YOUR BUSINESS: ROBERT P. LYNCH

Take team approach to preventing costly injuries

Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR ROBERT P. LYNCH is a chiropractor in South Portland practicing at the Lynch Chiropractic Arts Center. During his 28 years of practice, he has worked with numerous businesses and industries in the Northeast. He has authored a number of articles on preventing work-related injuries. To top of story

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Most everyone has heard this statement.

I am going to apply this statement to help you avoid or eliminate on-the-job injuries to your employees' musculoskeletal systems and save you some health-care dollars. These musculoskeletal injuries are repetitive motion disorders (tendinitis), carpal tunnel and spinal injuries to the back and neck with or without injuries to the disc and spinal nerves.

It can be expensive if your employees get hurt on the job. Reported injuries to the state Department of Labor between 2000 and 2003 reveal the average cost for a low back injury was approximately $16,000. Carpal tunnel and tendinitis injury costs were reported to be $13,000 and $16,000, respectively. These costs do not reflect the soft costs of losing a highly trained, experienced and efficient employee.

It takes a concerted effort to prevent injuries at work, and a team approach is by far the best approach. Your team should include management, employees, union representatives and members of the health-care community.

In the short term, we need to identify the areas of concern that have to be addressed immediately. Our long-range goal will be to set up a system to prevent injuries.

Education of your work force is very important in preventing injuries. Many of your employees find medical terminology confusing. They will not understand many of the different medical diagnoses. Educate your work force on basic anatomy and how these tissues may become injured. For example, most people do not know what a tendon is or what causes tendinitis. They may believe that once you get tendinitis you have it for life.

Also, they do not understand what creates a herniated spinal disc or its ramifications. Nor do they know that not all pain in their wrist is carpal tunnel. Your employees need to understand the underlying causes of these soft-tissue injuries and the consequences of incurring them, at work as well as at home.

Education includes training your employees on proper lifting procedures. Specifically, they need to be shown how to lift while protecting their spine. They can use these same techniques at home lifting laundry baskets, working in the yard or shoveling snow. Whether your employee is injured at work or at home, the injury will affect your business from an operational and financial standpoint.

Stretching is a key component of any soft-tissue injury prevention program. Your work force needs to understand the benefits of stretching and exercising.

The stretching and exercises should be designed to warm up the spine and tissues to help prevent injuries, much like an athlete warms up before participating in a sporting event. Employees need to warm up and stretch because many jobs place unusual stresses on the body. Your employees will become "industrial athletes" as they perform the exercises together.

Performing ergonomic evaluations of employees' workstations is also a key component to reducing injuries. Your goal is to have the workstation fit the employee, not the other way around.

Most often, minor modifications are all it takes. This can be as simple as altering the height of a desk or workstation to modifying how the employee lifts material. Pay attention. When an employee is initially complaining of a musculoskeletal injury, this is a good time to evaluate the workstation if it has not already been done. Also, take the time to listen to the employee who performs the job, as they may have some great suggestions on how the job can be done with less physical stress.

Your employees need to feel they are appreciated. If one of your employees is sick or injured in an accident, consider calling them at home or at the hospital and check up on them. Concern and kindness can go a long way.

Appropriate medical management also helps to control workers' compensation costs. It is important that health-care providers be matched appropriately with the condition. It is best to have an integrated team of providers such as a physician, chiropractor and occupational rehabilitation specialists working together utilizing evidence-based medical procedures.

Finally, your company should have a return-to-work policy. This policy needs to be communicated to your health-care team so it knows what jobs or modifications to jobs are available to enable your employee to return to work as quickly as possible.

Remember, reducing on-the-job injuries should be every company's priority. It's good business and good for your employees.

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