How much is lost productivity due to workplace injuries and chronic health conditions costing you? Newly published research from California-based Integrated Benefits Institute and at the Colorado School of Public Health in Denver, Colorado, shows it could be a hefty sum. Based on their data, the researchers estimated that for a company with 5,000 full-time employees, total health-related productivity costs of working in a less-than-safe workplace (as indicated by workers’ compensation claims) would be more than $550,000 annually.
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Traditionally, occupational safety and health has been handled separately from employee medical issues. However, given that both chronic disease and workplace hazards impact workers’ productivity in ways that are difficult to sort from one another, the researchers suggest that the employers would see greater gains in productivity if they implement integrated approaches to policies and programs that address worker safety and health.
Integrate Your Data
The first step to creating a comprehensive program is to integrate the data that you collect on workers’ health status, workplace hazards and occupational injuries, and the physical and cognitive demands of various jobs. By combining and analyzing this information, employers will be able to see where to most productively invest their health and safety dollars. For physically demanding workplaces, injury prevention might garner the greatest bang for the buck. In workplaces where hazards are low and injuries rare, worksite wellness might be a better investment.
Fit the Job to the Worker
It is particularly important to ensure that a worker is physically and cognitively capable of doing a job safely at two times: when the worker is first hired and when the worker is returning to work from an injury or illness (work-related or otherwise). As many as 40% of occupational injuries occur in the first 6 months of employment; paying special attention to work organization, job design, and how well the worker is suited to and trained for the task all have the potential to reduce these injuries and their associated costs.
Likewise, when workers are returning from an injury or illness, they may not be able to safely return to their previous duties right away. Pay close attention to work fitness and the need for accommodation during the employee’s initial return to work in order to permit full recovery and prevent reinjury.
Pay Attention to Worker Health
As the workforce ages and the number of workers dealing with chronic health conditions increases, employers may find it impractical to try to hire only workers with no chronic conditions. Rather, employers should provide appropriate support and accommodation for workers with chronic conditions. In addition, designing safe work practices and carefully matching workers to their job tasks will reduce rates of occupational injury, even to more vulnerable workers.
These three steps—integrating health and safety data; fitting the job to the worker, especially at significant points; and providing support for workers with chronic health conditions—are investments with the potential for a high rate of return.