How a company proactively prevented an injury. How a worker’s health slowly deteriorated to the point of a disability. How a person remained healthy and productive at work.

The lessons behind these stories are invaluable learning tools. We can learn from both the successes and the failures of people who have gone before us.

Following are two very different stories. One of failure, the other of success. Hopefully you find a practical application in these stories that benefits your situation.

Early Intervention Case Study – Ed

Meet Ed.

Ed’s story provides a lesson in what not to do. Sadly, Ed suffered a painful injury that ended in a disability that affected him for the rest of his life.

The Problem:

Ed was exposed to a variety of risk factors. Some of these risk factors were the responsibility of the company and some were Ed’s responsibility.

Company

• Poor health and safety culture
• No leadership commitment
• Reactive, treatment-focused approach
• No ergonomics improvement process
• No early intervention process
• Production trumped health and safety

Ed

• Poor health habits
• Poor body mechanics
• Did not recognize early warning signs
• Did not report increased fatigue/discomfort until functional capacity was compromised

The Solution:

Unfortunately, the reactive approach taken by the company Ed worked for provided no solution to minimize Ed’s exposure to risk factors or provide Ed with a way to report fatigue and discomfort before it progressed into an injury.

Without a proactive prevention strategy in place, the results shouldn’t surprise you.

The Results:

The outcome of this story was bad for the company and even worse for Ed.

• This system failure resulted in heavy costs.
• Direct and indirect costs to the company (over six figures)
• Human costs to Ed and his family – multiple surgeries and disability.

Unfortunately, this story plays out across the country every day. This is what happens when you take a reactive approach to ergonomics, injury prevention and wellness.

Early Intervention Case Study – Kay

Meet Kay.

Kay’s story provides a lesson in what can be accomplished with a world-class prevention process. It’s a story of a company and an employee both taking responsibility for their role in the prevention process (with the help of an on-site injury prevention specialist). It won’t shock you to learn that the outcomes of this story are much, much improved compared to the previous story.

The Problem:

Similar to Ed, Kay was exposed to a number of risk factors. These included both ergonomics risk factors (force, repetition, posture) and individual risk factors (poor work practices, poor health habits, etc).

The Solution:

Fortunately for Kay, the company she worked for had a proactive prevention process that included early intervention.

Here is how the story unfolded:

One morning, Kay’s supervisor (Steve) noticed that something was missing – her smile. Her body language seemed different as well, so he asked her if there was a problem. “Not really, it’s nothing really.” But Steve didn’t let it go, and again he asked, “Are you sure something’s not bothering you?”

Kay then told him that she was experiencing some discomfort in her right arm. Steve responded, “I’m glad you told me, thank you. I’ll have Mark (the onsite injury prevention specialist) come talk to you about this and we’ll see if we can get you the help that you need to resolve this.”

The Early Intervention Consultation

When the injury prevention specialist was notified of the early report, he quickly responded by conducting an early intervention consultation. The consultation consisted of three parts.

1. The specialist listened to Kay to fully understand her issue.
2. He reviewed the self-care program and injury prevention tools available to Kay.
3. He conducted an objective ergonomic assessment of the workstation to determine if any ergonomic risk factors were contributing to Kay’s discomfort.

Several prevention measures were put in place as the result of this consultation.

• It was determined that there were ergonomic risk factors contributing to Kay’s discomfort. Engineering controls were put in place to reduce these risk factors.
• Kay was compliant in maintaining the recommended self-care program and utilizing the injury prevention tools available to her.
• The specialist visited with Kay on a weekly basis to track her progress and help her return to peak health.

The Results:

The discomfort in Kay’s right arm faded away and she returned to peak health. Due to the proactive prevention process and solutions that were put in place, an injury was avoided and Kay remained a healthy and productive worker. This was a big win for the company and an even bigger win for Kay.

Key Takeaways

The different outcomes of these stories provide a number of takeaways. Clearly, we want to follow the example of Kay’s story. Here is what Kay and the company she worked for got right:

1. The company took responsibility for Kay’s safety and health. They had a prevention process in place that included early intervention and contracted with an injury prevention specialist to make weekly, on-site visits. This early reporting mechanism and weekly dedication by the prevention specialist provided a channel for Kay to report her problem and get the help she needed.
2. Kay took responsibility for her own safety and health. She reported the discomfort in her right arm due to her well-trained and alert supervisor. She was compliant and followed the recommended self-care program and utilized the injury prevention tools available to her.

Conclusion

The early warning signs of future injuries are present in your workforce today. Early intervention is a powerful prevention tool because it identifies these early warning signs and puts control measures in place to make sure they don’t progress into injuries.

Think prevention!

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