There is a Chinese proverb that reads “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” This sage advice can apply to many things in our lives. Who doesn’t look in their life’s rearview mirror at times, with a clearer vision of what could have been done, that wasn’t?
For the last 27 years it has been our mission to help companies to proactively stop costly and painful back, shoulder and other sprain/strain injuries. Historically there was a common corporate cultural attitude of “we will out-produce” the costs and lost days from back injuries and hope they go away.
This “old school” model was untenable over time as the direct and indirect costs of sprain/strain work related injuries increased. Also prevailing at that time was a mindset that many who claimed to be injured were “faking it” so they wouldn’t have to work to receive money.
Over the last decade we have noticed a considerable shift in corporate America’s attitude towards preventing injuries. Some of the initiative for this shift was:
- 2008 economic crash that was motivation to stop $40,000+ back claims which were no longer affordable
- a desire to improve employee retention to cut costs of employee turnover
- discovering the high return on investment (ROI) opportunities experienced by other organizations who were successfully preventing sprain/strain injuries (for example, FIT helped a major airline reduce back and neck injuries by 63% after training 20,000 employees)
Back and shoulder injury prevention is not only a “Safety” consideration. CFO’s now see the cost/benefit ratio as significant. It doesn’t take too many $40,000 claims prevented to make a nice difference in one’s annual profits (and bonuses).
Moreover, when one considers the attendant reduction of lost work days (FIT helped a large transportation company cut lost days by over 10,000 days per year!) and increased employee morale, it makes preventing sprain/strains a compelling business proposition.
Corporate America should have planted the Injury Prevention Tree 20 years ago; but the second best time is now in 2019! It is always a good time for a win-win: Employers increase productivity, decrease lost work days; and save money while employees feel better, produce more and like their employer better.
If you’re ready to plant your own tree of health and wellness, let us know. We have years of experience in a wide range of industries and are eager to help your employees to prevent a painful injury event on AND off the job!
Dennis Downing, CEO
Future Industrial Technologies, Inc.
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