It’s 7 a.m and you’re faithfully driving to work through a dark fog.
Ahead, you see what appears to be a patch of ice. By the time you adjust your car’s path, the driver’s side wheels hit the patch of ice. Your car careens out of control as you blow right past the “Watch for Ice” sign.
You lose your breathe when you see the end of the road and the steep drop-off of the cliff’s edge …
When you come to, you realize you are at the bottom of the cliff. Amazingly, you’re laying in a hospital bed. The doctor and his team are busy at work while your car lies only 30 yards away in flames.
You can’t help but ask, “Doctor, are you an angel or something? How did you get here?”
And the Doctor replies:
Of course not. It’s just that this is a really icy road this time of year and just about every week we get someone like you in bad shape at the Emergency Room. We thought maybe we could help you better if we were out here when it happened.
The Sad Reality
A doctor at the bottom of the cliff? Why not a fence on top of the cliff? Or more warning than a simple sign. Or close the road. Why not prevent the fall in the first place instead of waiting to fix the aftermath?
The sad reality is that this reactive mentality is common when it comes to worker health and well being. We wait for people to get hurt, then try to fix them with treatments – it’s the chemicals, needles and knives approach.
We don’t need more pills or surgery; we need a proactive approach. We need to think prevention.
If people are constantly falling off of a cliff, you could place ambulances under the cliff – or you could build a fence on top of the cliff. We have far too many ambulances under the cliff.
– Dr. Denis Burkitt
Where do MSDs Come from?
So where do MSDs come from and how can you get proactive and prevent musculoskeletal disorders before treatment is required?
The best way to prevent musculoskeletal disorders is to proactively measure and reduce all risk factors that contribute to MSDs.
An MSD prevention process that works will reduce ergonomic risk factors and individual risk factors by putting controls in place. It’s very much like putting guardrails up on both sides of the road to prevent cars from falling off the cliff.
For more, take a look at the infographic below and think about how proactive your company is about measuring and reducing MSD risk factors.
How to Prevent Musculoskeletal Disorders
