This is the introduction for a five-part series on why injuries occur in the beverage distribution industry and how they can be prevented.
This is the introduction for a five-part series on why injuries occur in the beverage distribution industry and how they can be prevented.
Pre-hire Physical Abilities Testing is a GREAT tool for reducing injuries and costs – often as much as 50-75% within the first 1-2 years of testing. However, it isn’t right for every organization. If you’re considering doing Pre-Hire Physical Abilities Testing (PAT), but aren’t sure whether it will benefit your organization, consider these five questions to help you decide:
Our clients tell us that one of the most valuable things we do is to help them track the outcomes of their pre-hire testing programs. After all, how do you know if your testing is reducing injuries and work comp costs if you don’t periodically evaluate the before and after picture?
Before starting pre-hire/post-offer Physical Abilities Testing (PAT), several ErgoScience clients expressed concern about starting the program in the middle of their “busy” season. Or starting testing in a tight labor market. Others were concerned about the “slow down” it might create in their hiring process. We frequently hear concerns from organizations that need to hire quickly.
But when they looked at their total annual workers’ compensation expense and broke it down into a daily number, these companies quickly realized that to delay starting pre-hire PAT – for any reason - just didn’t make sense. Some were spending $5,000, $7,500, $10,000 per day or more!
Do you know your daily number? Have you done the calculations to know your annual cost for strains and sprains and slips trips and falls? (Yes, include slips, trips and falls if you test with ErgoScience. We include balance testing in our PAT which dramatically lowers the number of slips, trips and falls and their associated costs for our customer.)
Calculate a daily work comp expense number. If you don’t know the costs but know the number of lost-time injuries, just take that number and multiply it by $40k (the average cost of a lost time strain or fall) to determine the direct cost. And then multiply that number times 1.2 to get the indirect costs. Then add those 2 numbers together. Yes, the average total cost of a lost time injury is over $80K!
Then break your annual number down into monthly, weekly and daily costs. Chances are that when you do, you’ll be unpleasantly surprised with a number you’d rather not see. And a number you don’t have to see - if you start pre-hire PAT. ErgoScience case studies show that our clients reduce work comp costs among new hires by 50-70% within the first year of testing.
ErgoScience makes starting the testing painless.
Your Hiring Process Won’t Experience Delays
Your Fail Rate Won’t Stymie Your Operations
Every decision you make for your business affects its bottom line, so the return-on-investment question is vital.
Employees are a business’s most valuable asset—and often its largest expense. Finding just the right workers with just the right mix of skills and work ethic is a challenge. And in positions with high levels of physical stress and strain, the right level of physical ability is equally important to productivity and the bottom line.
Containing the everyday costs of doing business is central to the profitability of any company, no matter what industry you're in. Well-run organizations project the potential return on investment for each cost reduction strategy that they are considering. For employers with physically demanding jobs, a budget line item that often gets attention is the one associated with workers' compensation expense. A variety of well-known approaches to reducing that expense exist, ranging from safety and training programs to claims management.
Nuclear verdicts are a hot topic in the trucking and transportation industry, and for good reason. In 2010 there were less than 10 cases against trucking companies with a verdict over $1 million; in 2011 there were nearly 60, and there hasn’t been less than 30 in a year since then. And it’s not just the number of cases that’s increasing, but the amount of the verdict. The average verdict in 2010 was $2.3 million; in 2018 it was $22.3 million 1.
A single finding against a trucking company can be catastrophic, at times even forcing their closure. With that in mind, is there anything a company can do to reduce the risk that one of their drivers will be involved in one of these cases? The answer is: Absolutely!
Many drivers don’t want to admit that they’re stressed because they see that admission as a sign of weakness. But commercial driving is a stressful occupation. And there’s no question that stress causes physical effects on the body, including chronic pain and fatigue. Stress day-in and day out means that a commercial driver’s body is in often in a fight-or-flight mode, which releases stress chemicals like cortisol and adrenaline. And if the stress is continuous, it can lead to burnout and a lack of motivation, which often results in feeling tired even after short periods of driving.
