For employees, it’s about getting the right care at the right time without unnecessary complications. For employers, it’s about understanding when an incident can be successfully and more appropriately managed through first aid care, and when incidents require or would benefit from medical treatment through having an onsite medical professional available to evaluate and deliver or expedite appropriate care.
Contracting with an on-site team of industrial athletic trainers like BIOKINETIX allows you to put employee wellness first, providing proactive support within the defined limits of OSHA first aid.
Understanding OSHA First Aid
OSHA defines first aid as “…medical attention that is usually administered immediately after the injury occurs at the location where it occurred. It often consists of a one-time, short-term treatment and requires little technology or training to administer.” Obviously there is room within this standard for interpretation so OSHA provides a specific list of acceptable first aid treatments that do not require recording in your OSHA 300 log under regulation 29 CFR §1904.7(b)(5). It includes:
- The use of non-prescription medication at nonprescription strength
- Administering tetanus immunizations
- Cleaning, flushing or soaking wounds on the surface of the skin
- Applying bandages, gauze pads, butterfly strips (not including sutures or staples)
- Hot/cold therapy
- Non-rigid supports (wraps, elastic bandages)
- Drilling of a fingernail or toenail to relieve pressure, or draining fluid from a blister
- Using eye patches
- Removing foreign bodies from the eye using only irrigation or a cotton swab
- Removing splinters or foreign material from areas other than the eye by irrigation, tweezers, cotton swabs or other simple means
- Temporary immobilization during transport (splints, finger guards)
- Using massages
- Drinking fluids to relieve heat stress.
OSHA makes it just as clear that anything beyond that list is considered medical treatment. Even care that doesn’t seemingly reach the level of equating to medical care can quickly cross into recordable territory. A common example within the industrial athletic training field is the line between ergonomics and physical therapy. We at BIOKINETIX uphold the defining line OSHA has clarified that anything resembling physical therapy surpasses first aid, including:
- Prescriptive exercise (specific movements, reps, and sets targeting an issue)
- Changing someone’s job duties due to pain without a doctor’s note
- Creating a custom “rehab” warm-up routine after someone’s been hurt
BIOKINETIX Keeps You Compliant and Your Team Moving
Instead, BIOKINETIX athletic trainers serve within the medical space OSHA allows, providing functional, ergonomic coaching that teaches workers how to use their bodies more effectively on the job.
For example, let’s say someone on your facility floor has a sore shoulder. Instead of handing over a list of stretches to do (which OSHA would see as Physical Therapy), we go directly to the source. We’re on the floor with them, observing in real-time and coaching better movement strategies. How are they lifting, reaching, or bracing? What tools are they using? How is their workspace configured? It isn’t about prescribing exercises; it’s about using integrative ergonomic coaching to teach safe, more efficient ways to move their body throughout the day. Through embedding the medical professional into the workspace and alongside the employee, our interventions are specific and appropriate as well as taking a holistic approach to ensure a successful and lasting recovery.
Our focus is on injury prevention, not just injury recovery, within the guidelines of OSHA first aid. That’s not only how we make a difference, it’s how we make a lasting difference.
Evaluation Without Overstepping
Sometimes employees find themselves navigating the gray zone, when they’re not sure if an incident is serious. When an employee incurs a work related incident or has an unknown soreness affect them, they may not know how or to what degree they are affected and what solutions they should or could seek. BIOKINETIX medical professionals are on site to evaluate physical limitations, talk through risks and options, and help the employee decide what’s best. If a team member needs medical care, we assist in the process. If it’s something we can support with first aid, meaning an incident doesn’t require escalation to a recordable, we see that as one of the most important parts of our job.
The other most important part of our role? Developing partnerships that matter. It starts with gaining the trust of your team members, knowing our athletic trainers are on-site to be a resource for their safety and well-being. That partnership then extends to occupational nurses, doctors, clinicians, etc. When other medical professionals know a BIOKINETIX team member is on site, they can confidently count on us for OSHA-approved, first-aid-level care, or even collaboration on recovery plans when care does become prescriptive.
The Outcome? Better Outcomes.
BIOKINETIX athletic trainers don’t sit behind a desk waiting for team members to approach us. We’re walking the floor, joining in on daily toolbox talks, and connecting with team members in the spaces where they work. That level of trust means we can support both the company and the individual. We can help someone move through soreness, stay productive, reduce days away from work, and still play baseball with their kids on the weekend!
Not sure if your program meets OSHA’s first-aid rules? Let’s walk the floor together. We’ll show you how BIOKINETIX keeps teams compliant and moving.
