The CDC’s statistics regarding obesity in America is sobering when one considers the impact on our healthcare system and for employers who need to provide jobs that accommodate the physical characteristics that occur with obesity. According to the CDC, the percentage of Americans adults over age 20 who are obese is 35.9%. The percentage essentially doubles if t
I attended and presented at the ASSE’s Safety 2013 in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago. Besides listening to other speakers and meeting new people, the one thing I really enjoy about the conference is the exhibit hall. There are the usual products on display, such as various PPE (fall arrest systems, gloves, safety glasses, footwear, and then there are some new products that caught my eye. Here are four that were new to me and definitely have an application in industry:
Last week I presented the first 5 reasons of my Top 10 list for why ergonomics (and lean) programs failure. Here are the next five:
“We started off well but things have fallen by the wayside”. “Employees were trained, they were enthusiastic and then things just started slipping away…” The previous two statements are ones I’ve heard from companies who wanted to do ergonomics that then proceeded to get a program together and implemented who currently find themselves with a program “in name only”. Common reasons given for demise of the program were that other priorities came up that took precedence or people just got tired of doing it. There can be numerous reasons given for program failure but with a closer look can b
Last week ErgoWeb published an article title “Stretching and Ergonomics”. Although the article was written in 2004 I believe the key points cited in the article are still very true today, notably:
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.
What is the age that you use to define for an “older” worker? Is it 45, 50, 55 or 65? Employers across the nation are seeing the average age of their work force getting older each year as people are delaying retirement more than ever before. This is a trend that has employers concerned for several reasons with two being the most impactful—potential injury/safety ramifications and upcoming knowledge loss. The “common wisdom” has been that older workers don’t get hurt often but when they do the expenses are very high. Is this “common wisdom” true? A
