by Sally Pace
Hybrid work abounds for much of white-collar America, but those on the front line and in manual labor jobs don’t have the luxury of this option. And, for consultants and employers tasked with protecting this sector of the workforce, constant education around injury prevention is key to cost containment on both the medical and work comp plans. As such, the team at Work Right points out that, aside from the inconveniences that come with an injury like shoulder pain (disruptions to sleep, pain with everyday tasks from lifting to washing your hair, and inability to continue with normal work tasks), injuries are expensive. Let's break down a common workplace injury to give you some perspective.
Costs of Shoulder Surgeries, For Example
The shoulder injury is one of the most expensive types of injuries to repair (along with the back and knee). Let's take a look at some costs:
Alarmed yet? These costs are definitely not pocket change and don't say anything to the point about how many days away from work you'll need to recover OR the additional cost of rehab. The National Safety Council reports shoulder injuries alone result in an average of 28 days lost from work.
Prevent That Injury!
Hopefully, the cost of surgery and the time away for recovery spark a new motivation for the prevention of the injury outright. When asked if we have a problem with healthcare in the US, Nic Patee, Founder and CEO of Work Right answered, “Put simply, yes. Year after year, costs continue to increase while the quality of care metrics stay the same or decline. This is because the system is set up to work backwards. The fee for service model of healthcare in the US waits for people to break and then capitalizes on fixing them. Instead of using knowledge to keep people healthy and truly be a health/care system, patients go untreated until it is too late.”
Another issue identified by Patee is the misinformed concept that healthcare is generally part of a company’s due diligence and sustainability plan. “In reality, no it’s not (although most organizations would claim it is). There are a lot of initiatives created that would appear to show a prioritization of healthcare. However, when the results of these initiatives are analyzed it becomes clear that they do not actually do much at all. They simply shift the risk from the health plan to worker’s comp and vice versa.”
To further the idea, Patee shares, “For example, a business may see costs and injuries reduced on the worker’s comp side due to their workplace safety initiative. But at the same time, plan costs actually increased as more people went on short term disability and sought outside care. This cycle repeats itself in many different forms, effectively creating no lasting change.”
When it comes to prevention, the Work Right team encourages corporate clients with industrial athletes to “Be PREPARED.” The PREPARED model addresses the following:
P – Pre-Shift Warm Ups
R – Review Your Hazards
E – Evaluate Your Equipment for the Job
P – Proper Lifting Posture
A– Align Your Shoulders, Hips & Toes
R – Remain in the Green Zone
E – Elbows In & Thumbs Up
D – Debrief & Recuperate
Work Right is proud to be featured on The Granite List.
To learn more about the work we do, find us here.