employee training

During the past two weeks or so the news has been abuzz with “digital dementia” affecting teens and 20-somethings.  Most of us are familiar with dementia that strikes the elderly but digital dementia is a new type of cognitive condition affecting those in their teens and early 20s.  According to multiple articles on this topic, digital dementia is characterized as the deterioration of brain function as a result of the overuse of digital technology, such as computers, smart phones and Internet use in general.  This excess use of technology leads to unbalanced brain development, as heavy user

The last two blogs have focused on why employees, despite knowing policies and processes and even paying attention to them most of the time still consciously choose to take risks.  The next question that should be considered looks at the flip side, “Why companies/CEOs/directors/managers, even if there’s great evidence that safety solutions are cost effective, will lead to more productivity and profitability, consciously decide to ignore those solutions and continue to permit risky situations?”

Why employees, even when they know the safety policy, they’ve been properly trained in the policy and even paid attention to it, still might consciously choose to take risks?  Part 2

In the Kelby Ergo Design Ergo Advantage March 2013 newsletter the title of the feature article was “Safety is #1”:  Why Employees Don’t Believe It”.  In it we covered the most common reasons why employees don’t believe safety truly is a priority for management despite what the fact that management says they do.  There are two additional questions that should be asked and answered that pertain to this topic.  The first question is the title to this blog, “Why

Patient falls in healthcare settings has long been a problem that despite many attempts to solve still continues to happen all too frequently.  The solution most hospitals and long term care facililities have implemented in recent years are bed and chair alarms.

Many companies devote time to training their employees on back safety in which they teach the basics of back anatomy and safe lifting techniques.  The question I have had on this training “Is the time and money spent on back injury prevention worth it?”  Of course, this question (“Is it worth it?”) should be asked of any training.  After all, training takes time, takes employees away from their jobs and therefore is a significant investment by the company in their personnel as well as financially.

In this part two of my blog series on obesity and driving.  In Part 1 of this blog series I discussed a study (1) that examined normal weight and obese truck drivers based on BMI.  The study showed that severely obese drivers were 43% to 55% more likely to crash than were drivers with a normal BMI.  This is a striking correlation between weight and driving accidents.  Reading this study caused me to do a little more research on obesity and driving which is how I came across this second study:  Driver obesity and the risk of fatal injury during traffic collisions (2).

I was at a business association meeting recently when I sat down at a table with 5 other attendees.

In an article I wrote last year, “To Stretch or Not To Stretch”, I concluded that stretching programs for the purpose of reducing injuries were not shown to be or not be effective.  As such, businesses should closely evaluate the costs of devoting time and resources to stretching programs compared to the supposed benefits.  I’d like to follow up that article with research done by Hess and Hecker on Workplace Stretching Programs:  The Rest of the Story.  In their research

Are you aware of the National Prevention Council?  Its formation was part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.  The council is chaired by the US Surgeon General and the other members are the leaders of 17 federal departments, agencies and offices.  The council’s purpose is to promote prevention and wellness.  The council released its National Prevention Strategy in June 2011.  According to Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, MD, the strategy will “move us from a system of sick care to one based on wellness and prevention”.  She goes on to say, “We also know that many of the strongest predictors of