Unraveling the Workers' Comp Crisis Part III

Saturday, April 22, 2006 | 0

The Office Injury Epidemic

RSI (repetitive strain injury) and carpal tunnel syndrome are reaching epidemic proportions.

As our reliance on computers increases, Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI) such as Carpel Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) are hitting epidemic proportions. More than 28 million Americans use computers each day and, according to officials at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), many risk coming down with carpal tunnel syndrome, the painful, debilitating condition that is the number one disability reported by insurance companies today.

Repetitive musculo-skeletal injuries like CTS have become the nation's leading workplace health cost. "Workplace injuries due to repetitive motion cost employers an estimated $2.8 billion in 2002, according to the latest data from the Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index.

"...Repetitive motion was the fourth-leading cause of on-the-job injuries in 2002 and 2001, according to the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety." www.occupationalhazards.com/articles/13290

Ergonomics is a scientific discipline that focuses on designing jobs and tools and office furniture to compensate for employee's physical limitations, thus reducing injuries. Ergonomics is typically based in engineering. However, there is going to be limited success if the program is only changing the workplace but not educating the person on how to use their most important tool correctly - their bodies.

Reaping The Highest Rewards

Adapting the physical environment can be quite helpful most of the time but training employees will reap the highest rewards. An ideal program would examine the worksites and evaluate each type of workstation - then design an ergonomics-training program specifically for that site.

The training sessions must be set up to mimic conditions in the worksite and employees should have their own chairs to work with. They're taught how to adjust their equipment, the importance of wrist support and how to modify their positions, posture and equipment to reduce the risk of RSI.

They should be given training that they could apply to every day work and home life. The goal of the workshop is for every participant to be able to modify any workstation in the world, specifically for their bodies.

One executive secretary was told by her doctor that she was just too old to work and should take early retirement. "Once she got the ergonomics training and readjusted her work station and work habits, her pain went away," according to her supervisor. "She went back to the doctor and told him he was too old to work on her! She did not have any pain after going through this program and later retired, pain free!"

Healthcare Workers

Healthcare workers lead the nation in work-related back injuries, with nearly 40 percent more injuries than truckers, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Whether from repetitive patient lifting and handling tasks or the result of a single traumatic incident, such as a fall or breaking a patient's fall, a compensable back injury in the healthcare workplace can cost $100,000 or more, especially in California.

After watching significant chunks of revenue go to insurance premiums, reserves for injury cases, and payments for medical care on existing claims, CFO of the Frank R. Howard Memorial Hospital (HMH), in Willits, California, Carlton Jacobson, started to look for ways to reduce the costs of claims, and the eventual reduction of insurance premiums. Implementation of this program reduced loss rates from $377,000 to $12,800 in just three years.

Although HMH had an active safety committee with a flexible budget for immediately providing abatements and repairing or removing any safety hazards, their main problem was controlling how healthcare workers physically interacted with their workplace environment on a day-to-day basis.

Performing a heavy patient lift single-handed could easily happen if a worker was in a rush and no help was immediately available. Despite their in-house risk control initiatives, Jacobson felt it would be beneficial to bring in an outside injury prevention training team. "An outside company provides an authoritative sense of expertise, so employees are more likely to listen," he said.

FIT provided an extensive walk-through in all areas to identify ergonomic risk factors and work tasks that presented a high injury potential. Patient lifting was targeted as a high-risk area, and the hospital was advised to purchase mechanical lifts to assist the staff with heavy patient transfers.

The workplace injury prevention program trained the nurses in the proper use of the lifts and each worker attended BACKSAFE