Leo Cavell
May 24, 2011
James Walker
May 26, 2011
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports an overall decline in non-fatal occupational injuries. According to the latest available figures, the number of related injuries or illnesses declined by 9 percent in 2009, while the total incident rate saw a 5 percent reduction to 117 cases per 10,000 full-time workers.
The reasons behind these statistics may be many, but according to Industrial Safety and Rehabilitation Clinic Director Trevor Bardarson, educating employers and employees on workplace safety and injury prevention plays a large role in the decreased number of cases.
ISR, which operates in 26 states with corporate offices in Houma, specializes in consulting to industry as well as offering rehabilitative physical therapy services. Bardarson, who is a business partner with Dr. Richard Bunch, said they begin their work by providing pre-employment physical endurance testing for companies looking to take on new hires.
ISR looks at a client company’s needs and educates management, as well as employees, on reducing injury through pre-employment testing, employee selection and ergonomics. They then examine how employers can retain quality employees by reducing risk of injury. Then for those employees that do suffer injury, they incorporate them into specific rehabilitative programs to get them back on the job as quickly and safely as possible.
“[We] actually do a lot of consulting for industry,” Bardarson said. “We look at ways to keep employees working longer. One of the issues that everybody’s facing right now is that everyone is getting older. So what are some of the things that we can do out there to allow our people to continue to work longer [and] safer?”
ISR representatives will look at job sites and offer employers tips on how to make workloads easier on their employees while enhancing productivity. “When we do that we look at low cost [and] no cost alternatives that is not going to cost the company hundreds or thousands of dollars,” Bardarson said. “We just look at simple changes to the work environment.”
Bardarson said that since the 1980s, industries in south Louisiana realized the burden they were carrying in workers compensation claims. In turn, Bunch, who worked at LSU at the time, began looking at industrial settings and improvements that could be made.
“What companies found, as they started putting in these preventative things, what they were spending on safety and prevention was much less than what they were spending on helping employees recover from injury,” Bardarson said. “Not to mention the lost productivity. Not only is it good for the employees, but it is a cost savings measure.”
During the past 20 years, an increasing number of major companies, and the insurance companies that cover their employees, have focused on preventative medicine.
For a cost that can at times save companies tens of thousands of dollars, ISR will help companies identify their current situations and develop a plan of action.
“We review every test in our network,” Bardarson said. “[Cost] depends on the type of evaluation.”
With high-tech equipment and low-impact exercise, ISR helps identify what potential and current employees are capable of doing. They can then work with companies to make appropriate recommendations.
“What we know from a workplace injury standpoint is that if somebody is out of work for a year or longer, only 50 percent go back,” Bardarson said. “If they are out of work for two years or longer only 10 percent go back.”
ISR led a South Central Industrial Association seminar on workplace injury on Friday at the Courtyard Marriott in Houma.
Bardarson said that the SCIA workshop focused on what companies need to know to improve the work environment to have people on the job longer, offer functional testing a company can use, and address the various kinds of injuries and treatment strategies.
“One of the most critical things in the workforce is to keep your employees healthy,” said SCIA Executive Director Jane Arnette. “The best way to do that is to properly train the trainer.”
ISR Physical Therapy Marketing director Christina Leidenheimer knows that keeping tools stored in their proper place is one of many steps taken to insure workplace safety. MIKE NIXON
