January 4, 2008
Did you know...?
Off-Work Safety
People spend more of their time off-work than on so why not focus on at-home safety interventions to create a safer work place? An injury suffered off the job keeps an employee away from work as surely as one suffered at work. You can't control workers' actions off the job but you can give them the educational tools to perform honey-do-lists at home more safely.
Incidents and problems off-work don't stay neatly within a medical claim "box". Back pain from gardening or sports activities can transfer into workers' compensation claims as well as increased medical costs for employees and employers. Personal injury risk is determined by the number and length of exposures as well as potential injury severity.
The key to off-work safety education is to respect employees' personal choices but offer them information as well as methods they may want to use to improve their health and safety and that of the people for whom they care. Off-work, people are exposed to all sorts of risks for injury: driving, slips, falls, strains, sprains, chemical exposures, etc. They are basically at risk for the many of the same injuries they might experience at work. You can help employees be less prone to injuries that can carry over to work by addressing potential hazards and teaching safety basics. Showing employees how to be more effective and safer in their off-work activities that they see as truly important to them may transfer to better safety practices at work.
One way to encourage employees to practice safety at work and off-work is to connect safety messages to what is already important to employees. For example, teaching their children how to protect themselves while mowing the lawn. (checking out equipment in advance, thinking through the best path, PPE, good use of applied strength techniques to control the mower, etc.). By teaching these techniques to their children or spouses, they are further enforcing these safety principles in themselves.
Successful off-work safety programs focus on common issues such as driving safety, hazardous materials in the home, slip/trip/fall prevention, fire prevention and preparedness escape plans, carbon monoxide safety and firearm safety. Encouraging employees to work and play safely may reap many benefits including improved health of the employee, decreased incidents at work and lower medical claims for both the employee and employer.
For more information on Safety point your browser to the US Department of Labor's webpage at: http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/safety-health/index.htm.
To learn more about services OHS-COMPCARE has to offer, contact our Client Services Team at (816) 559-6306 or by e-mail at customerservice@ohscompcare.com. You can also visit us at www.ohscompcare.com.
*Please feel free to forward this information to any member of management in your company who would benefit from it.*
OHS-COMPCARE has eight (8) area clinical facilities:
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Blue Springs Clinical Facility |
Independence Clinical Facility |
Johnson County Clinical Facility |
St. Joseph Clinical Facility |
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801 NW St. Mary’s Drive |
19000 E. Eastland Center Crt, St. 200 |
10415 Lackman Road |
904 Edmond Street |
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Blue Springs, MO 64104 |
Independence, MO 64055 |
Lenexa, KS 66219 |
St. Joseph, MO 64501 |
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816-224-9121 |
816-478-9299 |
913-495-9905 |
816-233-7702 |
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After Hours Available |
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KCMO/Broadway Clinical Facility |
KCMO/Front Street Clinical Facility |
Wyandotte County Clinical Facility |
Grandview Clinical Facility |
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1650 Broadway |
6501 East Commerce, Suite 110 |
1333 Meadowlark Lane, Suite 200 |
13830 S Us Highway 71 |
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Kansas City, MO 64108 |
Kansas City, MO 64120 |
Kansas City, KS 66102 |
Grandview, MO 64030 |
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816-842-2020 |
816-483-5550 |
913-596-2774 |
816-761-4664 |