4 Ways to Prioritize Workplace Safety Training & Wellness in 2021

In 2020, businesses across the US responded to the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic by enhancing their plans for infection preparedness and response, protecting essential employees, and reducing disruption to operations. As we move forward into this new year and continue adjusting to the new normal, it is critical to ensure injury prevention and well-being initiatives remain a priority—especially in times of uncertainty.

Upgrade your existing stretching programs with a focus on preventive exercise

Having a pre-shift stretching program constitutes a step in the right direction, but more and more companies have begun to leverage the preventive benefits of warming up and evolve beyond passive stretching. When reviewing your current program, the following questions are a good place to start:

• Does it engage the muscles in active moments, rather than passive?
• Does it prepare your employees’ bodies for the demands of specific tasks they perform?
• Is it engaging your workforce on a daily basis?
• Is it helping reduce medical claims or protect against musculoskeletal injuries?

A best-practice exercise program incorporates each of these criteria and is designed to fit operational demands, gain employee buy-in, and ensure long-term sustainability. The physiological benefits and proven impact on the bottom line have made warm-up programs a key component of modern safety management systems.

Expand the scope & reach of ergonomic interventions

Physical demands analyses and ergonomic risk assessments bring companies value by measuring and identifying the risks involved in job functions, but become even more effective when followed up with an action plan that’s designed to directly mitigate these risks.

One way to do this is through at-risk behavior intervention, which begins with on-site job task observation. Your employees are more likely to adopt positive behavioral change when given immediate feedback—identifying and correcting poor posture or at-risk body positioning in real time helps create awareness that “sticks”. The insights gleaned from the above assessments can also be used to inform body mechanics coaching and provide best-practice ergonomic education.

Align your culture with the Total Worker Health approach

The purpose of NIOSH’s Total Worker Health initiative is to fill in the “missing pieces” of employee well-being. One of the most prevalent obstacles they’ve identified is organizational resource silos, which occur when safety, HR, and risk management operate in isolation and seldom coordinate their efforts. Collectively, a company might have all the necessary resources to prevent and mitigate injuries. But the segmentation of each area of expertise dilutes the efficacy of occupational health interventions and weakens the potential impact. Instead, begin the new year with a renewed focus on addressing the safety and health needs of all employees— break down resource silos by coordinating existing resources and expertise to provide opportunities for one-on-one intervention and comprehensive, meaningful support.

One example of an underserved population is the aging workforce, who face functional limitations that include progressive muscle weakening, joint deterioration, and postural instability. These limitations contribute to an increase in both the severity and fatality risk of work-related injuries. Implementing exercise into their daily routines is a great way to help older workers maintain and build upon their functionality throughout the aging process, particularly when combined with individualized support and early intervention.

Track & evaluate program outcomes with higher precision

Although recordable rates, claims costs, lost time, and other lagging indicators remain the general standard by which to gauge the success of injury prevention programs, they also tend to paint an incomplete picture of how these programs impact an organization as a whole.

The return on investment of safety and wellness initiatives—whether newly introduced or implemented years ago—can be more comprehensively quantified with the addition of key leading indicators. Some of the metrics we use to track and report the progress of injury prevention programs, for example, include:

• Percent decrease in at-risk behavior, including specific triggers and body parts
• Number of personal programs closed without requiring medical care
• Pre-shift exercise program proficiency scores and participation rates

Keeping track of specific leading indicators provides companies a clearer path to identifying areas where improvement is needed, as well as evaluating the sustainability of initial program successes over time.