10 Things I Know About... Occupational Health
10. Practice Prevention
Pre-placement exams and drug screens for prospective employees along with state and federally compliant maintenance and surveillance programs are tools to ensure a healthy and safe work environment.
9. Leadership
A culture of health and safety starts at the top of an organization.
8. Don’t Wait
Many people delay getting care because of worries about reporting injuries to superiors or seeing an unfamiliar doctor. Employees should be encouraged to get care right away.
7. Be Kind
Don’t put workers on the defensive about injuries. Recovery happens fastest when employee, employer, insurer and physicians collaborate.
6. Trust But Verify
An employer or insurer who suspects symptom exaggeration should raise concerns directly with the treating physician.
5. Checking In
Employees recovering at home need to know they are part of the team. A personal check-in on occasion will help the employee feel included and cared for and strengthen others’ attitudes about the workplace.
4. Lighten The Scale
Making modified-duty work available is perhaps the most effective way an employer can reduce worker's compensation costs. It improves worker's compensation history, lowers insurance rates and allows employees to remain engaged at work.
3. Increase Safety
The best way to deal with workplace injuries is to prevent them entirely. Identify and address the riskiest areas of your business as quickly as possible.
2. Dangle A Carrot
Create a safety incentive program. These types of programs recognize employees for improved performance and motivate employees to maintain safe work practices.
1. Culture First
At Fallon Clinic’s Department of Occupational Health, we know safety is in everyone’s interest and requires a comprehensive approach to develop a self-sustaining culture that values safety in the workplace.
Patrick McIntyre is director of occupational health business at the Worcester-based physicians' group Fallon Clinic.
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