Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from our white paper, The Ultimate Guide to MSD Prevention. If you like what you see, click here to grab your free PDF copy. 

What It Is

Early intervention is a proactive strategy to find early signs of an injury and prevent it from happening.

When employees recognize they are experiencing fatigue and discomfort (early warning signs of MSD), they are encouraged to report it. Once the issue is reported, self-help tools should be readily available to the employee through an experienced injury prevention specialist.

Early intervention is about prevention, not treatment. It addresses fatigue and discomfort before it becomes a painful musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) and a costly claim for the company.

Preventive consultations should be available to each and every employee, and the self-help techniques recommended should not be therapeutic in nature and should serve as a means to help employees counteract daily fatigue that could potentially turn into an injury that requires medical evaluation and treatment. Prevention is much better than treatment!

Why It’s Important

Prevention is always better than treatment, and one injury at work is too many. If you’re serious about this philosophy, early intervention has to be a part of your MSD prevention toolbox. We know MSDs develop over the course of time as a result of excessive daily fatigue outpacing the body’s ability to recover.

This means the early warning signs of the next 2-3 years’ worth of MSDs at your facility are out there right now! Seek them out and think prevention.

Expert Tip

Injury prevention tools should be readily available to each employee through an experienced injury prevention specialist. These tools include:

• Preventive warm-up exercise
• Proper lifting techniques
• Proper body mechanics
• Identification of ergonomic improvement opportunities
• Preventive counteractive stretching exercises
• Proper resting/sleeping posture
• Strengthening exercises
• Fatigue recovery and sleep
• Proper nutrition and hydration
• Good health habits
• Personal fitness and wellness

Early Intervention Checklist

Early Intervention Checklist:

• Document a policy and best practices for encouraging early reporting of fatigue and discomfort.
• Document a policy that provides a clear way for employees to report excessive fatigue, discomfort or MSD signs and symptoms.
• Make sure all employee reports are dealt with in a prompt and timely manner.
• Employ or contract with a prevention specialist to address early reports of fatigue and offer self-help guidance for employees who do not need a medical evaluation.
• Assign responsibility for the early reporting system and outline it in the written MSD prevention policy.

Early Intervention Success Story

Kay’s supervisor (Steve) noticed that something was missing that morning – her smile. Her body language seemed different as well, so he asked her if there was a problem. “Not really, it’s nothing really.” But Steve didn’t let it go, and again he asked, “Are you sure something’s not bothering you?” Kay then told him that she was experiencing some discomfort in her right arm. Steve responded, “I’m glad you told me, thank you. I’ll have Mark (the onsite injury prevention specialist) come talk to you about this and we’ll see if we can get you the help that you need to resolve this.”

I love it when employees are encouraged by well trained and proactive supervisors to let someone know they are beginning to have a problem! For each individual who reports unusual fatigue or discomfort, potential causes are identified and corrected whenever possible. Injury prevention handouts are reviewed with the employee and a self-care program is established to address all potential individual causative factors.

In Kay’s case, potential causes were identified and a self-care program was established. She did a great job of implementing the prevention plan, and within a few days that wonderful smile was back on her face!