|
The
Griffith Company, Santa Fe Springs, CA, noticed that a majority
of its workers compensation costs stemmed from strains and
sprains:
In
Griffith’s case, it was primarily back strains. With that in mind,
the company enlisted the services of Wendy Richardson, a physical
therapist with Back and Body Care based in San Francisco, about a
year and a half ago.
Since
then, Richardson has helped Griffith implement a prework “stretch
and flex” program that is showing impressive results.
“
We began a stretch and flex program at a time when we were staffing
up for a surge in new work ,” says James Waltze, president and CEO
of the Griffith Co. and national AGC vice president. “
We anticipated some resistance, but just the opposite was true. It
sent a clear message to our workers that we care about their
well-being, and our worker compensation claims dropped dramatically
last year.”
The
process began with Richardson spending a day taking photos on
Griffith ’s jobsites and asking questions. The next step was
getting all the foremen together for a day-long class about how the
back works and conducting appropriate warm-ups before
work. Although
she
|
has
given two such classes now (spaced six
months apart), Richardson doesn’t foresee that Griffith will
require many (if any) more classes. “The idea of the program is
that it’s self-administered,” she says. “It’s the
train-the-trainer concept. Once the safety manager and foremen get
it, it’s basically self-perpetuating.”
All
workers do the exercises together for five or ten minutes at the
beginning of the day, but they are encouraged to repeat the
exercises whenever they have down time as well as at home and over
the weekend.
“The
most important thing is to have a safety manager who’s committed
to the program,” Richardson says. “The Griffith Co. definitely
has that in Carl Jones. They’re lucky.”
FOR
MORE INFORMATION
Contact
Carl Jones, safety director,
the
Griffith Co.
Call:
(562) 929-1128
Online:
cjones@griffithcompany.net
Contact
Wendy Richardson, physical therapist of Back and Body Care.
Call:
(415) 626-3099
Online:
webmaster@backandbodycare.com
www.backandbodycare.com
|
