Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12Sources: Construction Risk Solutions, LLC, U. S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor & Statistics, National Council on Compensation Insurance, Zurich Insurance Company N I N E CAUSE EXAMPLE 2: Not following best practices for material handling, such as lifting with your knees, not your back, or not lifting too much weight. For instance, in the traffic control industry, a best practice is to lift a maximum of three traffic control cones at one time. CAUSE EXAMPLE 1: Not maintaining safe foot placement and spatial awareness, especially on uneven surfaces. For instance, walking backward while talking to a coworker. CAUSE EXAMPLE 3: The increased access to and use of technology like smartphones. This creates distracted walking and working on the jobsite. WHAT FACTORS ARE CAUSING THESE INJURIES? Most injuries occur within an employee’s first year on the job, as they are in a learning and training curve. Unfortunately, all too often, even seasoned employees can become complacent and reduce their situational awareness, injuring themselves simply by not paying attention to where they are walking and working. See our illustrations on the left for common causes of injuries. WHAT CAN BE DONE TO PREVENT THESE SOFT TISSUE INJURIES? Utilizing common sense and best practices is the obvious solution to avoiding these injuries, but that’s no simple endeavor. Habits are hard to break, and many of these issues, such as looking where you are walking, are so fundamental to general life that employees naturally dismiss them as serious risk factors. One effective strategy to reduce the number of injuries is for employees to increase their levels of fitness, flexibility, and general wellness. This can be done by stretching and warming up before and after the workday, as well as by eating right and practicing proper hygiene. Employers who implement these measures enjoy reductions in the following: overall injuries, worker’s compensation costs, healthcare utilization, medical costs as well as the overall risk profiles that relate to insurance, etc. and lost work days and restricted days. According to Zurich Insurance Company, stretch and strengthening programs result in an average 61% reduction in strain and sprain injury frequency. They also see improvements in morale, efficiency, and productivity. Though some companies are adopting these measures, overall trends have remained the same for several years now. We will only see a measurable reduction in soft tissue injuries as more companies adopt and implement injury prevention through stretching and strengthening programs. The benefits of these programs for employee health, productivity and costs can be easily found right under our feet.