You’re on board.

You know what an athletic trainer is.

You know that a workplace athletic trainer is really an injury prevention specialist.

You know the value of having an athletic trainer on your team.

But you also know you still have work to do in order to convince others in your organization that an athletic trainer is a good investment. The goal of this article is to help you make the case for adding an on-site athletic trainer to your team.

The human cost of MSDs

First, we always like to begin the conversation about making the business case by acknowledging a simple fact: the human cost of MSDs are much greater than the financial costs. df

Recent research demonstrates this well. A study done by x reveals that people who suffer workplace injuries suffer a dramatic loss of income and quality of life.

The right thing for organizations to do is to provide a safe workplace and do everything in their power to proactively prevent these injuries. It’s simply the right thing to do and it’s great for your people.

Fortunately, a proactive focus on preventing MSDs is also great for financial and organizational health.

The financial cost of MSDs

The financial cost of MSDs in the United States is staggering.

Consider these facts and statistics:

• MSDs are the leading cause of pain, suffering and disability in American workplaces.
• MSDs account for one-third of all workers compensation costs.
• MSDs account for almost 400,000 injuries every year.
• Direct costs of MSDs are $20 billion a year. Total costs are estimated to be between $45-54 billion.
• Indirect costs (lost productivity, product defects, etc.) of an MSD case can be up to five times the direct costs.
• MSD cases require 38% more lost time days than the average injury/illness.
• Your company needs to generate over $8 million in additional sales to cover $260,000 in MSD costs (at a 3% profit margin).

I can’t tell you exactly what MSDs are costing your organization, but I can tell you that if you’re anything like the average company, they are costing you a fortune.

I encourage you to do some research and find out exactly what MSDs are costing your organization. Dig into the numbers and find out how big of a problem you have. This problem actually represents an opportunity for you to make a huge impact on your organization and be the hero.

You can use this research to illustrate the opportunity for your organization in terms of cost savings. If you don’t have your numbers readily available, use OSHA’s safety pays estimator to research the cost of the average injury. (See example data below.)

The business impact of an on-site athletic trainer

Athletic trainers add tremendous business value in the workplace. The numbers don’t lie.

NATA study of occupational athletic trainers

The NATA conducted a national survey of industrial companies that utilize the services of an athletic trainer.

Results of the study showed:

• 100% of the companies reported the athletic trainer provides a favorable return-on-investment (ROI).

Of the above companies that tracked a specific ROI amount:

• 30% indicated the ROI was at least $7/employee per $1 invested
• 83% indicated the ROI was more than $3/employee per $1 invested
• 94% of companies indicated the severity of injuries had decreased by at least 25%
• 68% of the companies indicated that the certified athletic trainer helped to decrease restricted workdays and workers’ compensation claims for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) by more than 25%
• 50% of companies reported that the number of injuries decreased by at least 50%
• 46% of the companies that provided on-site physical rehabilitation indicated that health care costs had decreased by more than 50%

Ergonomics Plus client results

Ergonomics Plus conducted an internal study that averaged MSD cost reductions for the seventeen companies that participated in the study and includes the first four years an Ergonomics Plus program was implemented. Only direct medical costs were measured; other associated secondary or “hidden” costs were not included.

The results of this study are outlined below. Notice that significant gains are achieved in the third and fourth year of service engagement with an Ergonomics Plus injury prevention specialist. This illustrates that our services gain value over time as a culture of prevention is established in our client facilities.

Year 1: Costs were 14% less than projected
Year 2: Costs were 47% less than projected
Year 3: Costs were 76% less than projected
Year 4: Costs were 78% less than projected

*based on a 6.5% medical inflation rate (conservative).

** Important — keep in mind that this is an estimation based on past client data and does not guarantee future results.

Be in good company

A question we are often asked is: what other organizations are utilizing the services of athletic trainers to prevent injuries?

The good news is that so many organizations are learning of the value of an on-site athletic trainer firsthand that this list is long and growing longer. You’ll be in good company by adding an athletic trainer to your team.

Here are a just a few examples:

• DuPont
• Schneider Electric
• Grainger
• Eaton Corporation
• NASA
• Boeing
• International Paper
• Amazon
• Coca-Cola
• Dana Corporation
• Supervalu
• General Electric
• And many, many more