Back injury Talk - main page
Injury Prevention Essential to Controlling Workers Compensation
Proven ergonomics training methodology can now be administered in-house.
November 9, 2005 -- Future Industrial Technologies, Inc. (F.I.T.) announced today they are now offering Corporate Licensing Agreements for their successful Bionomic™ injury prevention programs, Backsafe® and Sittingsafe®. The injury prevention marketplace is the new frontier in the workers' compensation arena. Companies are realizing that post injury strategies must be accompanied by aggressive injury prevention initiatives in order to truly control costs.
Ergonomic disorders are the most rapidly growing category of work-related illnesses reported to OSHA. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than one million workers suffer back injuries each year and one-fourth of all compensation indemnity claims involve back injuries. An estimated 70 percent of all reported occupational illnesses are RSI's, costing industry billions of dollars on top of the pain and suffering borne by employees.
Bionomics, a field within ergonomics, combines biomechanics, ergonomics, stretching, and the behavioral sciences to enable employees to self-manage their musculoskeletal health on and off the job.
Bionomics training takes these principals of correct body management and combines them with a breakthrough on how to train people. Until now, F.I.T. has implemented Bionomic workshops through their own 1,200 trainers nationwide network. Now companies can acquire this proven workers' comp cost reduction methodology and administer in-house programs.
Bionomics Programs
Sittingsafe: A tool to prevent repetitive stress injuries. Employees no longer have to suffer from discomfort and pain associated with office related work.
Backsafe: Injury prevention training for all non-office environments including trucking, transportation, warehousing, manufacturing, healthcare, food processing, utilities, airlines, law enforcement, fire fighting, etc. This practical training employs the proprietary "Obstacle Course" module where employees "drill" correct techniques specific to their job tasks.
"When we were first told by a client after training 20,000 employees that their back and neck injuries were down 63% after 2 years we thought it must be an anomaly. But ever since, we have seen consistent dramatic reductions in back, neck, shoulder and carpal tunnel injuries." says Downing.
Licensing Option
F.I.T. is making their methodologies available to companies that are interested in preventing claims to augment the traditional post claim cost containment model and have the wherewithal to internally implement and reinforce injury prevention programs.
The key to F.I.T.'s success with Bionomics is in the training methodology - how to get employees to buy-in, learn and apply proper techniques on and off the job. In conducting a successful pilot licensing arrangement with a large US corporation where "master" Bionomics trainers were created and certified, F.I.T. saw enormous potential to provide these injury prevention strategies through license agreements to other organizations throughout the US and the world.
All programs will be customized, and for companies in non-English speaking countries, the training and material can be translated accordingly.
"Bionomics debunks the theory that preventing sprain/strain injuries is not possible." says Dennis Downing.
"The great part of teaching Bionomics is watching employees immediately brighten up when they realize how easy it is for them to be in more control of their own health and to feel better. It is an extremely rewarding process when you can help people and control workers comp costs at the same time." Bionomics Trainer
"Since the program began in 1996, over 20,000 attendants have been trained. Back injuries decreased 63% from the program's start to the first quarter of 1998." Major US Airline.
For more information on how Bionomics can help you to lower your workers comp costs and become part of your corporate culture visit http://backsafe.com.