Over a one-year time period, nearly $200,000 was saved in treatment costs and lost time payments for work related musculoskeletal injuries (MSI) among hospital employees through the application of an integrated workplace-based ergonomics program, according to Badii et al. The mean treatment cost for time loss MSIs reduced from a historical average of over $4000 to below $2000 per 100,000 work hours. Injured workers returned to their jobs in a shorter time with the average number of time loss days dropping to 88.9 from a historical average of 111.8 days per 100,000 work hours.
The Occupational Health and Safety Agency for Healthcare, a British Columbia entity composed of employers and unions, developed an initiative that focused on prevention and active intervention of MSIs. Called PEARS (The Prevention and Early Active Return-to-Work Safely program), a pilot study was conducted at a 362-bed acute care hospital with components that included:
- Ergonomic assessments
- Workplace modifications
- Early intervention physical therapy
- Onsite physician accessibility
- Work accommodation
The program had support from healthcare providers, managers, coworkers, unions and insurers.
Activity impact was evaluated by one-facility pre-intervention/post-intervention data comparison and a concurrent control study design. Three years of historical data was compared to 1 year of prospective intervention findings. Five key variables were tracked: the incidence of all reported injuries: incidence of reported MSIs; incidence of time-loss MSIs; mean duration of time-loss; mean compensation and healthcare costs. Table 1 and Table 2 summarize study findings.
Table 1: Pilot Hospital Data
|
Year |
Pilot Study Hospital |
|||||
|
Total injuries per 100,000 hr worked |
Reported MSIs per 100,000 hr worked |
Time-Loss MSIs per 100,000 hr worked |
Mean Days Lost per 100,000 hr worked |
Mean Compen per 100,000 hr worked |
Mean Treatment Cost per 100,000 hr worked |
|
|
1 (historical) |
25.1 |
11.6 |
3.2 |
143.4 |
$14,804 |
$5542 |
|
2 (historical) |
21.3 |
8.5 |
2.3 |
92.5 |
$8,819 |
$3807 |
|
3 (historical) |
19.5 |
7.6 |
2.0 |
101.7 |
$9,493 |
$3478 |
|
4 (intervention) |
17.9 |
9.2 |
2.7 |
88.9 |
$7,560 |
$1914 |
Table 2: Control Hospital Data
|
Year |
Control Hospital |
|||||
|
Total injuries per 100,000 hr worked |
Reported MSIs per 100,000 hr worked |
Time-Loss MSIs per 100,000 hr worked |
Mean Days Lost per 100,000 hr worked |
Mean Compen per 100,000 hr worked |
Mean Treatment Cost per 100,000 hr worked |
|
|
1 (historical) |
20.3 |
8.5 |
3.5 |
176.5 |
$17,213 |
$8105 |
|
2 (historical) |
24.9 |
10.1 |
3.4 |
179.7 |
$18,397 |
$7043 |
|
3 (historical) |
21.8 |
10.5 |
3.4 |
185.9 |
$17,477 |
$5546 |
|
4 (intervention) |
13.1 |
6.6 |
3.0 |
178.0 |
$15,682 |
$4266 |
The rate of all MSIs and time loss MSIs increased during the application of the integrated workplace-based ergonomics program when compared to both historical hospital data and the control hospital findings. Study authors felt this finding was due to a change in culture generated by the ergonomics program at the pilot project hospital that promoted the reporting of MSIs
This article originally appeared in The Ergonomics Report™ on 2006-12-13.