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January / February 2010

Table of Contents:

1. Job Coaching: Helping Injured Employees Learn Safe Work Techniques
2. Ergonomic Risk Factors: Forward Head Posture
   
3. Think Safe! How well do you wash your hands?

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Job Coaching: Helping Injured Employees Learn Safe Work Techniques

Do you have employees that have returned to full duty after an injury? Are they having difficulty getting back into the groove? Have they been re-injured or had a re-occurrence of the same symptoms that contributed to their original injury? If so, then Job Coaching is something you may want to consider.

What is Job Coaching?

Job Coaching provides on-the-job training to an injured employee in order to help them adjust to the work environment. It includes instruction in proper body mechanics and work techniques as it relates to an employee’s job and their specific injury. It helps bridge the gap between the physical demands of the original job and the physical capabilities of the injured employee. It can also provide recommendations for simple ergonomic modifications for the employer to consider.

When is Job Coaching appropriate?

Job Coaching is appropriate for any employee that has been injured and is experiencing difficulties returning to or performing their regular duty job.

What are the benefits of Job Coaching?

Often when an injured employee first returns to their full duty work, there is an uncertainty on the part of both the employee and the employer as to how it is going to go. The employee may have been through Physical/Occupational Therapy in a clinical environment and been taught proper body mechanics, but the employee isn’t sure how to carry that over to the job. Job Coaching can ensure that an employee is learning the best way to perform the actual job tasks in the real work environment given their current physical capabilities. It can also help address and problem solve potential issues to ensure a smooth transition back to full duty. Most importantly, it can educate the employee on work techniques and stretching exercises that can help reduce the likelihood of re-injury. This information, as well as recommendations for simple ergonomic modifications, can often benefit not only the returning employee, but other employees also.

Who can request a referral for Job Coaching?

Job Coaching can be requested by the employer, the physician, a claims adjustor, or a rehabilitation nurse. Services are typically billable to the insurance company if the employee has an open claim. However, if the employee has already been released to full duty by the physician, it is also a service the employer can request and be billed for directly.

If you would like additional information on any of our services, please contact Jim Panozzo at CIS Onsite for more details (866) 298-1312 or jpanozzo@cisonsite.com..

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Ergonomic Risk Factors:

Forward Head Posture

There are many obvious safety hazards in our lives that put us at risk for injury. Things like drunk driving, drug use, or even just walking on ice in the middle of winter are all behaviors that most adults understand will increase their possibility of getting hurt. But what about the not so obvious risk factors that we expose ourselves to day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year? How we choose to use our bodies each day, greatly impacts our likelihood of experiencing a musculoskeletal type injury. The next few issues of this newsletter will cover common risk factors that the average worker does not consider.

The first risk factor to be discussed is forward head posture. Forward head posture is a position of the head bent forward from the neck as shown with the individual on the right below.

Forward head posture causes the muscles in the neck to tighten up which can squeeze the nerves and arteries as they come off the side of the neck. This is a condition called Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, and can lead to symptoms all the way down the arm and makes an individual more susceptible to Musculoskeletal disorders of the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand. It is also a common cause of neck and upper back pain. Forward head posture is most often accompanied by rounded shoulders as well. Rounded shoulders can cause irritation of the rotator cuff tendons leading to tendonitis and even, in some cases, a rotator cuff tear. Also, with our head held in this forward head posture, the muscles of the neck have to work a lot harder (about 3 times harder). This position can lead to chronic headaches and even jaw pain (TMJ syndrome).

The ideal posture is a position of the ears over the shoulders and the shoulders over the hips, as shown with the individual on the left in the above picture. Forward head posture is caused largely by HABIT, which means it can be changed if we set our mind to it! When looking down at a task, keep your head up, ears over your shoulders, and tip your head down on an upright neck (like someone looking down their nose through a pair of reading glasses). Make this your NEW habit.

Forward head posture can also be caused by how our task is positioned. Things like having the computer monitor too low, reading copy from a desk surface rather than a document holder, or working on a flat work surface that is too low vs. a higher, angled work surface are just a few examples.

Stretching is one way to balance out the wear and tear that forward head posture can cause. At least once an hour, remember to perform a chin tuck for 10 seconds. As pictured here, be sure to tuck your chin back, and not down.

Whether we are at work or at home, we are confronted with tasks throughout the day that may cause us to maintain a forward head posture position. The biggest tool to prevent this risk factor is knowledge. If an individual is aware of this potential risk and committed to avoiding it, more often than not, they are able to do just that! Next time you are driving in your car, take note of how your head is positioned. Are you using your headrest?

If you would like information about services CIS onsite can provide, please contact Jim Panozzo at CIS onsite for more details (866) 298-1312 or jpanozzo@cisonsite.com.

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Think Safe!

How well do you wash your hands?

Proper hand washing could save more than a million lives a year worldwide, public-health experts say. But nearly 40 percent of Americans still seldom or never wash their hands after coughing or sneezing, a recent survey found. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends washing hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, about as long as it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” twice. The most important times to wash are:

• Before preparing or eating food.
• After going to the bathroom, changing a diaper, blowing your nose, coughing, handling garbage, sneezing, or taking care of an animal.
• Before and after tending to a cut or wound, or having close contact with someone who is ill.

Hand sanitizers can help in a pinch, but make sure they contain at least 60 percent alcohol. They can kill the germs they come in contact with but don’t cut through layers of dirt that can hide germs. So use soap and water whenever you can. Antibacterial soaps are unnecessary and potentially harmful. They don’t kill viruses, and the main ingredient, triclosan, may help breed drug-resistant bacteria.

Wet your hands, then scrub them with soap, making sure to get between your fingers. Keep the soap on for at least 20 seconds.

When possible, use a scrub brush under your fingernails, where germs can hide.
Dry your hands with a paper towel or air dryer. If available, use a paper towel to turn off the faucet and open the door.

Adopted from Consumer Reports on Health.

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