Fitness testing your workers is a great way to determine what your organization may need to do to reduce on the job injuries. This will be the foundation for implementing an injury prevention program to reduce lost time and keep workers safe.
Strains and sprains are the largest contributors to work related injury, lost time and OSHA recordable incidents. In order to reduce injuries, we need a focused approach to help workers be “fit for duty”. Launching fitness testing should include protocols such as sit and reach flexibility, one minute push-ups, sit ups, squats and grip strength. More in-depth testing might include body composition, blood pressure and resting pulse. The goal is to obtain base line data for your workforce in order to measure the progress of an ongoing exercise program. Once we attain a base line for each employee, we then retest every 3-4 months as an incentive and progress report. When we implement this process for our clients, we provide written reports comparing the previous test to the most recent test calculating the percentage difference for each protocol between the two tests. The reports are summarized and used for data analysis investigating changes in outcomes. We expect to see fitness progress from the exercise protocols and a corresponding reduction in worker strains and sprains.
Fitness testing is a necessary function of any injury reduction program. Not only do you gain insight into potential injuries, but you show your workforce that you care about improving safety and reducing injuries. Using a pragmatic approach to injury reduction is good for workers morale, team safety and reduces cost for lost time.
Please contact us if you are looking to improve worker safety and reduce the human and financial cost of injuries at Bruce@sportstherapy.net. Please also visit www.SportsTherapy.net.
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