It might seem like a hardened, senior management business view, but there is evidence that moving from measuring incident rates to the cost of safety in dollar terms, can actually improve safety.

In his article, Mind Shifting into Safety Excellence,  Dr Larry L. Hansen from L2H, talks about the need for companies to change how they measure safety performance.

As Dr Hansen succinctly puts it, “What does your CEO and CFO value most…reduction in rates? Or reduction in costs?” Obviously, nearly everyone would choose costs.  Yet,  so many companies emphasize incident rates as the driving metric of safety performance.

In a Safety & Health magazine readership poll a resounding 86.3% percent of respondents believed that occupational injuries in the US are under-reported.

While at a more local level, Dr Yossi Berger from the Australian Worker’s Union (AWU) has stated in a recent NSCA interview that reductions in injuries do not provide the correct information about the quality of health and safety standards nor about daily risks experienced by workers at their tasks.

Dan Zahlis, Founder of the Active Agenda project used to be the Regional Risk Manager for The Häagen-Dazs Company.

His most immediate challenge was to reduce high Workers Compensation costs at the California facility. What he found was that head office imposed “incident rate measurements‟  which had frustrated supervisors (because they were accountable for something over which they had little control), had created employee cynicism, (because workers knew that numbers were suspect), and had driven real problems and near-miss events underground, (until they ultimately surfaced as costly injuries).  Dan removed the incident rate measurement and implemented what he called the “ultimate safety metric‟ – “Average Loss Cost‟ -calculated by the following formula:

Average Loss Cost = Total COST of all INCIDENTS/Total NUMBER of all INCIDENTS
(And by INCIDENTS, Dan meant ALL – Near Misses, First Aid, Medical Only, Restricted Duty, and Disabling)
Dan’s goal was to build trust and remove cynicism by removing the negative consequences associated with reporting, which in turn would expose real problems and allow real safety progress to occur.
The genius of this metric is that the only two ways it can be improved is by increasing the number of incidents reported (exposing hidden problems), or by reducing total costs (forcing better management of employee claims).
At the end of the first year, the plant reported 33% more claims, BUT produced a 30% reduction in claim costs.  And, of course he lost his job for bucking corporate policy.  He then went on to a Dole Foods Division where he applied the same approach and reduced loss costs from $385,000 to $30,000 in the first year.

So what do you think?  Leave a comment below about your company incident rates and your experiences.

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According to the Worker’s Health Centre, studies show that shiftwork and shifts with extended hours can have significant adverse effects on health, workplace accident rates, absenteeism and a worker’s personal life.

Over 70% of men and 50% of women working shift work are overweight.   Due to altered eating habits when working shift work, workers often experience higher rates of gastrointestinal problems, including indigestion, heartburn, or stomach ulcers, constipation, diarrhea and gas.  Other issues include increased heart diseases, social problems and increased error and accident rates.

Working Nights, an excellent blog on, well, working at night, talks about a recent study in the journal Obesity that has found that when we eat may be more of a driver of weight gain than what we eat.  This obviously has significant impact for shift workers.

In the study, mice were fed a high-fat diet during the time they’d normally eat, the regular day-time hours on their daily circadian cycle, gained 20% in weight over six weeks. But mice fed the same high-fat diet during hours they should have been sleeping gained 48%!  This new study was initiated to consider the potential impact on at night shift workers, who eat the most of their daily food intake during hours when humans are usually sleeping. The researchers believe that findings for people would be consistent the results within the mice population.

But there is good news!

Working Nights has also published some information about a new study by scientists at the University of Illinois that has found that soluble fiber, found in oats, nuts, and apples, strengthens the immune system and reduces the inflammation related to obesity-related diseases (e.g. diabetes and heart disease).  These results will appear in the May 2010 issue of Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

The bottom line is to enhance their immune systems, shift workers should consider the amount of soluble fiber they eat.  Of all grains, oats have the highest proportion of soluble fiber.

Working Nights suggest that  shift workers need to stock up on high fiber nutrition bars.  These are easy to pack for consumption while working at night.  Our bodies’ digestive system slows down at night, even if we’re awake working.  So, employees working the night shift should eat light meals.  To read more about the importance of eating the right foods when working shift work, click here.

Companies who have shift workers should consider making oat based bars available to their workers through vending machines.

Personally, I think that all shift workers need to eat porridge for dinner just because it’s yum!  Add some chopped nuts and sliced apple and you have a great meal that your body will thank you for.

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Recently, I started a meditation course.  I’ve actually been meditating daily for nine years, but was persuaded by a close friend, to do this amazing meditation course led by a Swami.  Given that I’d never had any formal training and that I’ve always wanted to meet a guru, I signed up without a second thought.

So far what I have learnt is, I actually do know how to meditate, meditation CDs are very good.  But meditation is becoming extremely popular, almost mainstream!  There were no hippies in the room, in fact there were 86 (yes, that’s not a typo) very normal, middle class people learning how to meditate in a beautiful house in Melbourne.  And yes, the Swami is very good (and funny).

Meditation is a growing trend.  The Herald Sun reported on how meditation is now moving into the boardroom with numerous studies showing that it improves concentration.  Businesses such as NAB, Victoria Police, Diabetes Australia, Origin Energy and The CEO Institute are now running meditation sessions for their staff.

According to research by Medibank Private, workplace stress costs the Australian econony $10.11 billion through poor productivity and absenteeism.

Under the Workplace Health and Safety Act 2004, companies are responsible for implementing stress management programs.  In Victoria alone, the average cost of a stress-related work claim in 2009 was $51,000.  So it makes perfect fiscal sense for companies to introduce company meditation courses to improve stress levels and productivity of their workers and ensure they reduce their work claims.

Given the need for companies to reduce the stress levels of their workers, introducing meditation classes is a great way to help workers and boost morale.  It’s only a matter of time before meditation is readily accepted in the workplace, as a quick way to alleviate stress and improve productivity.

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The Centre of Sleep Research at the University of South Australia has developed a fatigue calculator to help workers assess if they are too tired to work.

Developed by Professor Drew Dawson, head of UniSA’s Centre for Sleep Research, the calculator helps individuals recognise the likelihood of them making a fatigue related error on the job.

“Employers in high risk industries such as mining, trucking and health care need a simple way to know if their staff are fit-for-duty and how to estimate the level of risk,” says Prof Dawson.

The Fatigue Calculator takes into account two factors when determining individual fatigue levels: How long a person is going to be awake; and how much sleep they have had in the previous two days.  The answers to these simple questions are calculated to determine whether the individual is operating at a low, medium or high risk level.

“Use of the calculator has the potential to reduce the number of fatigue related incidents and accidents that occur in the workplace,” Prof Dawson said.

“Staying awake for 17 hours has the same effect on performance as having a blood alcohol level of 0.05 per cent and after 21 hours awake you demonstrate the same deterioration as having a blood alcohol concentration of 0.1 per cent.”

A number of mining companies are already using the calculator and have implemented it as part of their fatigue management programs.

The calculator retails for around $40 and is available at www.fatiguecalculator.com.au

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"Warm up for work" Program run by a Prime Health Group exercise physiologist

EHS Today recently reported on a survey undertaken by Buck Consultants called “Working Well: A Global Survey of Health Promotion and Workplace Wellness Strategies”.

The global study analyzed responses from more than 1,100 organizations representing 10 million employees in 45 countries.

It found that improving productivity by keeping employees healthy and working is emerging as the top business objective.  As a result, company wellness programs are very popular for businesses worldwide.

Don R. Powell, PhD., president and CEO, American Institute of Preventive Medicine, pointed out that successful employee wellness programs receive an average return on investment (ROI) of $3.48 to 1 due to reduced health care costs and $5.82 to 1 due to reduced absenteeism, making them worth considering.

“HR managers should consider issues such as maximizing employee participation, involving dependents, teaching wise consumerism as well as online employee wellness programs that manage chronic diseases,” Powell said.

Not surprisingly, the Wellness Study found that across the world, the top work health concern was stress.  Although, in the US the top health concerns were lack of exercise and poor nutrition.

At the Health and Productivity Forum in February 2009, Ron Loeppke from Alere discussed the relationship between health, productivity and business strategy.  He discussed the results from the largest multi-employer study which confirm that the health of the workforce is inextricably linked to the productivity of the workforce and, therefore, to the health of the bottom line. In the study, productivity losses from absenteeism and presenteeism, combined with direct medical costs, amounted to four times the direct medical costs alone.

But how important are wellness programs in Australia?

A recent article in the Sunday Herald Sun (Jan 3, 2010), mentioned how the majority of Victorian workers are in need of medical attention with builders and drivers being labeled the state’s unhealthiest employees.

According to results from the WorkHealth occupational check-up program, more than half of the 14,000 employess that have been tested  are at “high risk” of serious health problems. Incidentally, more than 50 per cent of people who registered for the WorkHealth program since July 2009 rated their health as “excellent”.

Workers found to be at greater risk were in the transport, storage and construction industries, with more than 2 in 3 staff found to be in high risk categories.  This includes conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.

Karyn Foote from Prime Health Group, an Endorsed Service Provider with WorkHealth  says “Our clients are now combining workplace health assessments, with health & wellness initiatives and online wellness programs. This combination is engaging those staff that typically don’t participate in health and wellness activities, resulting in better staff retention and a happy, healthy and productive workforce”.

For more information about getting a health assessment for your company visit Prime Health Group or contact WorkHealth.

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Following up from my last blog post, How to Evaluate the effectiveness of a Training video, I though it best to show a safety training video that’s well, crap!

This is quite an extraodinary example of how to not make a training video.

It’s more of a horror health and safety movie that focuses on educating through fear.

It does this through lots of gore, fake blood and workplace accidents that are too implausible to believe (my favourite is the nail flying through the air into a person’s eye).  And of course, lots of bad acting and ridiculous music.

As a video producer, it makes me really embarrased about the sort of videos that our industry makes (okay, it was a long time ago, but it should never have been given the go-ahead).  But it’s pretty easy to work out that the scriptwriter/producer must have believed that safety is boring, so let’s make it more entertaining by scaring people.  This is another reason why not to get your training video made by wannabe film directors!

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Office workers, underground miners, night shift employees and aged-care workers are more at risk of disease due to a lack of Vitamin D.

Vitamin D is obtained through sunlight and a small amount from food. However, the most reliable way to top up this important vitamin is to get outside and enjoy the sunlight.

Over the past few years, the recommendations for the amount of Vitamin D we need have increased due to a growing trend of vitamin D deficiency in the general population. This has been caused by people spending less time outdoors (due to working indoors) and using lots of sunscreen which blocks Vitamin D absorption.

Luckily, in Australia due to our intense sunlight it is easy to get Vitamin D. While residents of countries such as Canada and Scotland need to have Vitamin D supplements.

Ideally, we need to spend 6-8 minutes in the mid-morning sun during summer or about 20 minutes in winter. No sunscreen required. The best places to absorb sunscreen are the hands, face and your forearms.

Interestingly, if you watch the video with Dr John Cannell talking from Stamford Universtiy you will discover the increasing evidence that people with low Vitamin D levels are more likely to suffer from a wide range of diseases. In fact, getting lots of sunlight could be the best way to avoid getting the flu.

How can you get your staff out into the sunshine?

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