Addressing worker safety with injury prevention and treatment services
Published by HealthFitness on December 1st, 2023
A leading shipbuilder partnered with HealthFitness in 2021 to provide injury prevention and treatment (IPT) services as well as coaching to its 5,000 employees. The shipbuilder has developed a multi-faceted wellness model that includes an on-site medical staff in addition to the HealthFitness IPT and coaching to addresses a wide spectrum of employee health requirements, including acute care, prevention, and lifestyle improvement.
The three-person IPT team integrated into the company culture to earn the employees’ trust. They established rapport by building relationships and spending time during onboarding to understand what the workers do and finding ways to connect — including sports and hunting — before covering safety topics.
Challenge
Because shipbuilding is an extremely physical job, the IPT team serves as the front line of prevention and early intervention of musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders and uses a holistic approach to employee wellbeing.
One of the team’s biggest challenges was to gain the trust of the workers and integrating within the company culture in order to successfully prevent and address safety and injury prevention concerns. The ultimate goal is to prevent injuries by identification and mitigation of risk factors.
Solution
In partnership with company’s safety leaders, HealthFitness identified departments and crews that would be receptive to learning about injury prevention. HealthFitness focused on several crews — where worker injury rates were higher — creating connections before discussing injury prevention.
If a front line supervisor is aware that a worker is experiencing pain or discomfort, they are encouraged to refer them to the IPT team where they support the worker with focused education on stretching, mobility exercises, safe work techniques, posture adjustments and ergonomics.
Results
The team conducted 2,885 sessions for 725 employees, including:
1,673 preventive sessions. The team identified 6.3 physical risk factors and 1.9 awkward postures that could lead to MSK injuries.
414 symptomatic sessions. 83% experienced overall improvement in discomfort. 88% of discharged cases were successful, equating to 13,520 potential lost hours saved.
100% of survey respondents performed their job better. With this success, IPT services will expand to reach more of the population by adding 7-8 additional IPT staff over the next two years.
Highlights from the survey include the following employee testimonials:
"I have been comfortable reaching out to the HealthFitness team for multiple issues. It is nice to not have to go off-site for advice and direction."
"Without my physical trainer I don’t know if these first few months at the company would have worked at all."
"I'm able to work without restrictive movements all because of following their guidance to work on my specific area of problem.”
Learn more
Contact us to for a no-obligation meeting to learn more about our Injury Prevention and Treatment services.
The three-person IPT team integrated into the company culture to earn the employees’ trust. They established rapport by building relationships and spending time during onboarding to understand what the workers do and finding ways to connect — including sports and hunting — before covering safety topics.
Challenge
Because shipbuilding is an extremely physical job, the IPT team serves as the front line of prevention and early intervention of musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders and uses a holistic approach to employee wellbeing.
One of the team’s biggest challenges was to gain the trust of the workers and integrating within the company culture in order to successfully prevent and address safety and injury prevention concerns. The ultimate goal is to prevent injuries by identification and mitigation of risk factors.
Solution
In partnership with company’s safety leaders, HealthFitness identified departments and crews that would be receptive to learning about injury prevention. HealthFitness focused on several crews — where worker injury rates were higher — creating connections before discussing injury prevention.
If a front line supervisor is aware that a worker is experiencing pain or discomfort, they are encouraged to refer them to the IPT team where they support the worker with focused education on stretching, mobility exercises, safe work techniques, posture adjustments and ergonomics.
Results
The team conducted 2,885 sessions for 725 employees, including:
1,673 preventive sessions. The team identified 6.3 physical risk factors and 1.9 awkward postures that could lead to MSK injuries.
414 symptomatic sessions. 83% experienced overall improvement in discomfort. 88% of discharged cases were successful, equating to 13,520 potential lost hours saved.
100% of survey respondents performed their job better. With this success, IPT services will expand to reach more of the population by adding 7-8 additional IPT staff over the next two years.
Highlights from the survey include the following employee testimonials:
"I have been comfortable reaching out to the HealthFitness team for multiple issues. It is nice to not have to go off-site for advice and direction."
"Without my physical trainer I don’t know if these first few months at the company would have worked at all."
"I'm able to work without restrictive movements all because of following their guidance to work on my specific area of problem.”
Learn more
Contact us to for a no-obligation meeting to learn more about our Injury Prevention and Treatment services.
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Written by HealthFitness
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