Every year the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) analyzes workplace health and safety data and publishes a list of the most common injuries. And every year, like clockwork, musculoskeletal injuries claim the majority of the spots on the list.
According to the BLS, these injuries represent over $20 billion in direct costs. Indirect costs can be up to five times the direct costs.
This has been the case for years, presenting organizations with ample evidence to make the case for investing in better musculoskeletal health management solutions.
With this information widely published and no shortage of strategies and solutions available in the marketplace, why do well-meaning people and organizations still struggle to effectively manage musculoskeletal health?
Why do I know for certain that musculoskeletal injuries will again comprise the majority of next year’s list of the most common and costly injuries from the BLS?
Because the status quo is broken. Because most management initiatives aimed at musculoskeletal health have proven largely ineffective at best and have exacerbated the problem at worst.
Most efforts at musculoskeletal health management are reactively triggered by a sudden increase in injuries. At that point, a variety of tactics are hastily implemented by various stakeholders through various organizational domains and disciplines.
Managers, safety teams, wellness committees, HR, medical providers, and employees — all operating in organizational silos — attempt a solution without a coherent overarching strategy. This approach leads to unclear communication, lack of common goals, and decreased effectiveness of each tactical response, all resulting in a familiar pattern of frustrating musculoskeletal injuries.
The solution is to shift your efforts to a prevention-focused, upstream model of care, deploy the upstream model through a specialized provider that bridges the discipline gap, and to leverage technology to break down silos and meet the common goals of organizational stakeholders.
What follows is our engagement with, and innovations concerning, the musculoskeletal health disciplines and how organizations can choose a transformative path toward total worker health and a more competitive business.
Should you choose this path, you might find that work takes on a deeper meaning — a passion that makes a significant difference in your life even as it also enriches the lives of your associates. This is how change happens. How culture is shaped. It’s how you can move the workplace forward — one workstation and one person at a time.
Over the next few weeks on the blog, we’ll walk through the following together:
The Current State of Musculoskeletal Health Management
Ample research and a vast amount of data provides insight into common missteps organizations make in managing musculoskeletal health.
A Better Approach
Upending the status quo and driving change in your organization requires adopting a new approach to musculoskeletal health.
The Journey Upstream
Successfully managing musculoskeletal health hinges on your organization’s resolve to move to a prevention-focused, upstream model of care.
Specialized Musculoskeletal Health Delivery
Deploy the upstream model through a specialized provider who bridges the discipline gap.
A Technology Platform for Musculoskeletal Health
Leverage technology to provide common goals, tools, and information.
Let’s Move the Workplace Forward
Accelerate health and safety excellence to drive measurable value for your organization and its people.
A Better Approach to Musculoskeletal Health
This post is an excerpt from our ebook on how proactive organizations accelerate health and safety excellence by targeting musculoskeletal health. Click here to download the full ebook at no charge.
Free Ebook: A Better Approach to Musculoskeletal Health
Learn how proactive organizations accelerate safety excellence by targeting musculoskeletal health.
