ergo maia

Traditionally, return to work decisions after an injury or illness have been made by treating physicians. The question is: “What information do physicians typically use to make these decisions?”

Controlling workers’ comp costs is a major concern for virtually all employers today, with just the medical costs associated with the average claim creeping towards $30,000 and projected to exceed that figure within the next several years. However, for employers who operate in industries that place heavier than average physical demands on workers, those costs are of even greater concern since the jobs offered in their workplaces tend to generate higher worker injury rates.

A Pre-hire Physical Ability Test (PAT) program works to ensure that workers you hire are well-matched in terms of physical capabilities to the everyday demands of the jobs into which they will be placed. The testing adds a new element of accuracy to the hiring process, reducing bad hires and employee turnover. PAT also increases workplace safety, lowering injury rates among your workers and reducing the steep costs associated with those injuries. These are factors that benefit both your workers and your company’s bottom line.

Many employers struggle with repetitive trauma injuries to the hand, wrist, and elbow – along with their close cousins, carpal tunnel syndrome and tendonitis. Although the causes of these conditions are often multifactorial, occurring on – as well off – the job, some work-related activities are thought to contribute.

When you think of the costs associated with workplace injuries, the costs of workers’ compensation claims is likely the first thing that springs to mind. With medical costs of the average-sized claim alone, nudging up against the $30,000 mark, that’s certainly understandable. However, these costs, eye-opening as they are, do not tell the entire story. According to OSHA, indirect expenses can cost your company up to 4.5 times as much as the direct costs of a workers’ comp claim. Add to that the impact of on-the-job injuries to your workers’ comp mod rate and you can begin to see why there’s a lot more at stake than medical bills alone.

Hiring new employees can be risky business, and hiring mistakes are costly. Aside from the cost of replacing a bad hire, which can, by some estimates, rise to as much as five times the person’s salary, a bad hiring decision can leave your company vulnerable to theft or violence, falsification of work histories, experience or credentials, negligent hiring claims, and time wasted on the recruiting, hiring and training process, among other risks. These risks are exactly why pre employment screening has become so prevalent in business today, and background and credit checks are among the more commonly used screening tools.

Noise generally is not the first issue to spring to mind when the topic of designing an ergonomic workplace is being discussed. However, excessive noise can be a serious environmental hazard in the workplace, and is often identified as such in ergonomic assessments. Excessive noise is also an issue that is addressed by OSHA health and safety standards, which specifies excessive noise exposure as being at or above an 8-hour time weighted average of 85 decibels as an ergonomic hazard. So just how serious is excessive noise in terms of workplace health and safety?

Do you use a candidate Physical Ability Test (PAT) in your workplace? If so, you know the potential of PAT in terms of increased workplace safety and decreased costs. However, if your only use of PAT is in the hiring process, you are not taking advantage of that test’s full potential. Physical Ability Testing can also be an invaluable tool for more effective return-to-work planning, helping you provide your employees with a smoother, safer, and more efficient path back to full productivity.

It’s not just the law that makes complying with OSHA standards for occupational safety and health a priority for employers. Protecting the well-being of workers is just good business – after all, good people are hard to find, so savvy employers take good care of them. Complying with regulations and avoiding the hassle and expense of OSHA violations is only one of the many benefits. And when it comes to compliance, a common source of employer concern is the heavy lifting demands of the jobs for which they hire – demands that may exceed OSHA standards.