We talk often about the impact Early Intervention can have on an employer, from reducing injuries and associated costs to improving morale and employee retention .
Still, speaking conceptually of these benefits can fail to help safety managers justify the use of Early Intervention within the context of their unique organizations. Every employer is different, and many are not sure if Early Intervention can have the same impact for them as it might for their counterparts in other industries or of differing scales.
Here are our responses to some commonly held concerns – backed by data and lessons from our decades of experience – to help address uncertainties and skepticism surrounding the difference Early Intervention can make for you.
Can Early Intervention work in my industry?
It’s often assumed that onsite Early Intervention is only designed for areas that include clusters of employees, such as warehouses, manufacturing plants, or airline baggage handler environments. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg.
Industries with in-the-field employees such as construction, delivery/transportation, waste hauling, utilities, and telecommunications can benefit tremendously from a properly designed and executed EI program.
Recently, we did an annual review of a pilot program for a utilities company to help deliver a 45% reduction in sprain/strain recordables through the use of onsite Early Intervention. In this setting, the employees rarely have a common point of return and our Injury Prevention Specialists are able to seamlessly integrate and account for the factor of customer experience.
Is this company too large or too small for Early Intervention?
Early Intervention is not a one-size-fits-all strategy for injury prevention, meaning there is no “perfect size” of business when it comes to this solution.
Some clients have one large location or region while others have many large locations or regions. Other clients are large in terms of total number of employees but are spread out over many smaller regions or locations. Still others are midsize or single-location/region employers who are struggling with the unrelenting cost of musculoskeletal injuries.
No matter your industry or setup, we can help you assess if EI will work for your unique situation.
How long does Early Intervention take to produce results?
While Early Intervention is not an overnight solution to employee soreness and injury, your business can begin experiencing results sooner than you would expect. You will see tangible results within 6 months and will typically be up to full speed within 12-18 months.
And the work doesn’t end once we see positive results. While our onsite injury prevention specialists are the most visible component of the program (as they are onsite regularly interacting with employees), what many people don’t realize is that they are supported by an organization with a multidisciplinary infrastructure whose sole focus is on injury prevention. As such, the provider is the vehicle in which the injury prevention strategy is delivered.
This is very different than hiring a “staffing agency” or leveraging a network of loosely controlled subcontractors where the site success is solely dependent on the personality of each provider.
What kind of ROI can I expect?
A conservative estimate is 2:1-5:1 ROI, meaning for every dollar you spend, you receive 2-5 times the revenue in return. In the case study mentioned above, we were able to help our client realize a 7:1 return while reducing costs associated with recordable MSDs by $2.0 million in the first year.
While this is certainly a successful case, such results are not uncommon for many of our clients. You don’t have an average tenure of 10+ years as we do if you aren’t delivering results.
See what’s possible through Early Intervention from Fit For Work
When you consider the fact that Fit For Work is an Early Intervention platform that blends in Predictive Analytics, Pain Science, and professional Ergonomic support , it’s easy to see how we are able to deliver so effectively and consistently for our clients. Through the use of Early Intervention, we seek to help employers proactively get ahead of workplace injuries and to mitigate their root causes to prevent them from occurring in the first place.
We focus on the three leading indicators to injury – early soreness, ergonomics, and behaviors – to deliver a strategy that is constantly shifting your environment in the direction of proactive prevention.
Contact Fit For Work today to address these concerns within your organization and to implement a safety program designed to help you and your employees succeed.
