Preventing Workplace Injuries: An Occupational Medicine Approach
Workplace injuries can have a significant impact on both employees and employers, and it’s in everyone’s best interest to prevent them. A healthier, safer work environment with fewer injuries will also be more productive and less costly. This is one of the important roles of occupational medicine. More than just helping workers recover from injuries, an important goal of occupational medicine is to prevent work-related injuries in the first place. Taking a proactive approach to workplace safety can reduce injuries, improve productivity, and lower healthcare costs for both workers and their employers.
Common Workplace Injuries
There are many different types of workplaces and, of course, many different types of injuries that can occur. Depending on the type of work you do, one or more of them may be a more likely concern. In general, though, some of the most common work-related injuries include:
- Musculoskeletal injuries (strains, sprains, and repetitive stress injuries).
- Slips, trips, and falls.
- Overexertion injuries (from lifting, pushing, pulling).
- Workplace-related carpal tunnel syndrome.
- Injuries due to poor ergonomics.
Any one of these injuries can have a serious impact on workplace productivity and workers’ quality of life. Fortunately, these injuries are almost always preventable when the workplace provides the proper conditions and workers are properly trained, focused and careful.
Occupational Medicine Plays an Important Role in Injury Prevention
There are many things occupational medicine can do to help prevent workplace injuries, including job site analysis to identify risks and ergonomic evaluations and modifications. Pre-employment screening can help employers ensure a worker’s fitness for a particular job. Education on proper lifting techniques and posture can help a workforce be both safe and productive.
Occupational medicine can also provide functional capacity evaluations, impairment ratings, hand strength assessments and more. Many services can be provided at an employer’s location. While the primary objective of occupational medicine is the prevention and treatment of workplace injuries and illnesses, an important consequence of these actions is increased productivity and social adjustment in the workplace.
Workplaces also play an important role in Injury Prevention
A safe workplace is a productive workplace, and employers would be well-served to take a proactive stance on workplace safety. Some basic things an employer can do to improve workplace safety include:
- Encouraging regular movement and stretching at work. This can help reduce the likelihood of overexertion and repetitive stress injuries.
- Implementing standing desks and ergonomic workstations. Desk workers are susceptible to neck and shoulder pain that is often completely avoidable.
- Promoting workplace safety training sessions. Continuing education plays an important role in workplace safety.
- Offering onsite physical therapy consultations and wellness check-ups. This will help keep workers safe and demonstrate to them how important their safety is to the company.
Workplaces that prioritize worker safety will have happier, more productive workers, and will have significantly lower healthcare costs than workplaces that don’t.
The Importance of Early Intervention and Rehabilitation
Unfortunately, no matter how much a workplace invests in the safety of its workers, not every injury will be prevented. In the event of a workplace injury, early intervention is key. Early intervention can prevent minor injuries from becoming chronic and can help injured workers recover more quickly. An occupational medicine provider will be an active partner in the worker’s recovery process and further empower them by teaching them self-management and injury prevention.
Returning injured workers back to work as safely and quickly as possible is one of the major goals of occupational medicine. A healthy workforce with fewer injuries is more productive and less expensive to maintain, and uninjured workers make better neighbors, friends and family members as well.
If you are serious about workplace safety – as we all should be – then reach out to an occupational medicine provider today. Safe and productive workplaces benefit us all.