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  • Noise Induced Hearing Loss Increases Risk For Workplace Injuries

    A new study published in the April 10, 2014, edition of Canadian Occupational Health e-magazine, finds that noise induced hearing loss and exposure to loud noise on the job may cause workers to miss danger warnings and result in a higher number of workplace accidents.

    Study Findings

    • For every decibel of hearing loss, the risk of hospitalization due to work related injury increased by 1%.
    • Workers exposed to noise levels above 100dB had almost 2.5 times the risk of being hospitalized for work related injuries compared to workers not exposed to loud noise.
    • Workers who already have a hearing loss are also more likely to be seriously hurt.
    • For workers with both a severe hearing loss AND high noise exposure, the risk of being hospitalized with a work related injury is 3.6 times that of workers with neither condition.
    • Exposure to high noise levels increases fatigue, decreases concentration and impairs the quality of communication. These can be contributing factors in workplace injuries and absences.

    Study Background

    The study was led by Serge-Andre Girard, who is a researcher with the National Public Health Institute of Quebec in Quebec City. His research looked at records for 46,550 male workers over nearly 20 years, and found that 1,670 had been hospitalized for work-related injuries within five years of being given hearing tests. The researchers compared the number of injuries to worker’s levels of hearing loss indicated by the tests and their exposure to loud noises in the workplace.

    In an e-mail to Reuters, Mr. Girard states that “noise induced hearing loss is a public health issue…despite considerable energy devoted to the prevention of noise-induced hearing loss, it remains a significant problem. From an occupational safety perspective, work-related injuries remain an important issue that generates significant costs for businesses, workers and compensation organizations.”

    How you can protect your employees from hearing loss and workplace accidents

    A complete Hearing Conservation Program will protect your employees and eliminate – not reduce – eliminate, noise induced hearing loss. A complete hearing conservation programs include:

    • Noise & Dosimeter Surveys
    • Mobile Audiometric Screenings
    • Education, Training, and Consulting
    • Custom hearing protection
    • In-house medical supervision & accredited technicians
    • Proactive Management Report with comprehensive demographics, trend analysis, and proactive action recommendations.

    Noise-induced hearing loss is the leading occupational disease in North America, ranking as one of the most costly and frequently reported compensation claims. Protect your workplace from avoidable employee hearing loss, workplace accidents, and costly compensation cases and implement a hearing conservation program today. Workplace Medical Corp. is hosting one-day hearing conservation seminars in London and Ottawa.
    For more information on the London conference click here. For more information on the Ottawa conference click here.
    To contact us to learn more about Workplace Medical’s hearing conservation program click here.
    To view the original article click here.

    Jon Burtenshaw

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  • Reducing Absences In The Flu Season Through On-Site Flu Clinics

    You already know that in the beginning of the fall season word starts to spread about the flu shot and the importance of protecting yourself from this highly contagious and prevalent virus. Why should you consider the flu shot in relation to your business? Below we explore the reasons why the flu may be costing your organization lost time and revenue, and why a convenient, on-site workplace flu clinic is the best way to protect your employees and your business.

    Flu and absenteeism

    The flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by the influenza viruses that is spread very easily when people cough, sneeze, shake hands or touch an object that someone with the flu has touched.

    • The flu has detrimental effects on industry and employers alike, as it is the leading cause of lost time.
    • This represents thousands of dollars in lost productivity for your company and higher labor costs associated with replacing the worker who is absent.
    • The 2011 Direct Health Solutions Absenteeism Survey found organizations lose an average of $385 per day per employee in lost productivity when a staff member is away sick.
    • Each flu season, nearly 111 million workdays are lost due to the flu.
    • That equals approximately $7 billion per year in sick days and lost productivity.
    • The average flu-related absence is one work week.
    •  The flu cannot be treated with antibiotics.
    • Some corporations will have the healthy employees work overtime to keep up with the production demands when others are sick

     How on-site flu clinics can help

    On site flu clinics are a great choice for organizations big and small because:

    • On-site flu clinics are a convenient, quick and affordable way to get all your employees immunized at one time, in one place, without having them leave the work site or lose worker productivity.
    • On-site flu clinics ensure your employees are vaccinated and lessen the risk of spreading the virus to family and other high-risk groups.
    • On-site flu clinics ensure that your employees are protected if exposed to the virus from outside sources.
    • Many employees intend to get to the clinic and get their flu shot, but life gets in the way and they just never get around to it. Others know they should get to the clinic, but the thought of sitting in a packed waiting room is not appealing and they decide to wait until they’re not so busy – a time that never comes.

    Vaccinated employees experience:

    • 13 – 44% fewer doctor visits;
    • 18 – 45% fewer lost work days; and
    • 18 – 28% fewer days with reduced productivity

    Dealing with employee objections, fears, and misconceptions

    Some employees may hesitate to get the flu shot because they fear that the flu shot will give them the flu. In truth, flu is caused by a virus — and there’s no virus in the flu shot. There is no scientific evidence for — absolutely no truth — to the urban myth that vaccine will give you the flu. Rather, what the flu shot does is introduce your body to the killed virus so that it can develop a proper immune response in case you encounter the live virus later on in the flu season. Vaccinations are often in the new as people fear possible links between vaccinations and autism. This fear first surfaced because of thimerosal, a form of mercury used as a vaccine preservative, which was purported to be linked to autism but has since proven unrelated. As a precaution, thimerosal was removed from all childhood vaccines and most, but not all, flu shots in 2001.

    Final thoughts

    If money is tight, then you can’t afford to not host a workplace flu shot clinic! It will cost you approximately $16.00 to immunize an employee against the flu. Compare that to how much it will cost you to pay that employee’s sick benefits for a week, in addition to all the other indirect costs like production delays and having to bring in a replacement worker.

    Book your workplace on-site flu clinic today- contact us.

    Jon Burtenshaw

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  • 3 Misconceptions About Mobile Hearing Testing

    Noise induced hearing loss is now the most common occupational disease in North America, affecting both the employee and employer. Here, we take a look at the 3 most misunderstood concerns about using a mobile hearing testing service.

    Misconception: The test must take place in a 100% soundproof environment:

    Audiometric booths (or attenuation booths), which are used in all clinical applications and most mobile unit applications, are simply designed to reduce the background noise to a level that no longer affects the test result. There are standard criteria for allowable background noise levels, and a properly designed mobile unit will meet these standards. Furthermore, It is standard practice for the person conducting the test to triple-check the results at each test tone before determining the patient’s true hearing level.

    Misconception: You must avoid any noise exposure prior to your test:

    It is hazardous noise that must be avoided, so wearing appropriate hearing protection is the equivalent of no noise exposure. Second, avoiding noise is essential for your baseline test, but not necessarily so for subsequent tests. In fact, it may be of more value to test a worker in the middle or even at the end of a shift. Here’s why: A person working in a high-noise environment prior the test will be (or should be) wearing hearing protection, so their test results shouldn’t indicate any noise-induced shifts, no matter what time the test was done. However, if this person is not wearing hearing protection (or not wearing it properly) and is tested at the end of a shift, the results are likely to indicate a temporary shift. This is the most important information of all. It’s exactly what you need to know. In fact, it’s the primary reason for a hearing conservation program.

    • You get a better understanding of the true level of hearing protection compliance in the workplace. You can’t simply assume that everyone’s wearing hearing protection and wearing it properly. You need a metric.
    • These temporary shifts will become permanent if allowed to continue. Since the hearing test will spot a shift before the worker begins to notice it, follow up remedial action can be taken at the earliest possible stage…before significant damage occurs and before it becomes compensable.
    • The results can be used as a training tool to help the worker see the risks of noise exposure and understand the benefits of hearing protection.

    If hearing tests were only conducted after temporary shifts have receded, we may not know about the shifts until it started to become a permanent shift.

    Misconception: The tests need to be conducted by a hearing specialist or audiologist:

    Most companies believe it’s neither efficient nor necessary to spend the time and money on a professional/clinical service when most people don’t need it. What’s needed is a quick way to screen for those with a condition that actually should be flagged for professional follow-up. This is where the mobile hearing testing services come in. Most services are capable of doing multiple-simultaneous tests and can screen the entire workforce in a fraction of the time it would take for a professional or nurse to do them one at a time. As an added bonus, many of these services also provide very comprehensive demographic and statistical reports. Proactive implementation of a comprehensive hearing conservation program can reduce and even eliminate occupational hearing loss. Save your organization and employees the time, costs and damages associated with hearing loss and book a mobile hearing test today. For more information, please contact us.

    Jon Burtenshaw

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  • Conference Board of Canada Recommends Tracking Employee Absences

    The Conference Board of Canada has released, “Missing in Action: Absenteeism Trending Canadian Organizations” as the first part of a three-part series about absenteeism and disability management.

    Absent employees are costing the Canadian economy a staggering $16.6 billion

    In 2011, full-time employees averaged a 9.3-day absent rate. Within this document, the Conference Board suggests that employers must improve tracking reasons for employee absences so that they can better understand absenteeism, and only 46% of companies track absenteeism (2012).

    Organizations cannot improve absenteeism if they are not tracking it.

    Solutions for tracking absenteeism exist. We also know that most of the companies that do track absenteeism do not track it well, and thus cannot take action on the results.

    Key findings from the Conference Canada research:

    • Absenteeism costs the Canadian economy $16.6B (2012)
    • Average days absent in Canada is 9.3 but varies widely by industry (2011)
    • Only 46% of companies track absenteeism (2012)
    • Survey estimates direct costs at 2.4% of gross payroll
    • Findings do not include direct costs

    Absenteeism requires a holistic approach within an organization.

    What typically falls to Human Resources staff must be collaboratively controlled by frontline management, HR executive staff, and C-level leaders. To help Canadian businesses streamline internal processes and policy implementation for absence management, we offer a customizable software solution that can be tailored to work with your absence management program and close costly loopholes that can affect your productivity.

    Jon Burtenshaw

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  • The Financial Post recognizes Workplace Medical’s Approach to Reducing Avoidable Absences

    The Financial Post writes “Gotcha! The new way to reduce absenteeism while boosting profitability and productivity” featuring Workplace Medical Corp. President, Bill Shapiro. Columnist Mitchell Osak works through the challenges HR departments face with manual reporting and how specialized systems are the way of the future.

    Unplanned and avoidable absences affect company profitability

    New methodologies can help reduce avoidable absences. His first step is to ensure the proper technology is in place to collect “Big Data”. After an organization reviews the employee absence data, they can implement a “Dedicated Solution”. A specialized solution transfers the responsibility of managing individual employee absence records from HR to an absence management software and dedicated third-party staff. Shapiro remarks, “If absence costs showed up as an expense line on the divisional P&L statement, it would get a lot more attention. The problem is that it is has been too difficult to get a hard number for that cost.” Osak adds a unique approach to reducing avoidable absences through “Gamification”: the game is attendance and the reward is recognition, feedback and enhanced status and large companies, like Microsoft, have found success with this approach.

    Are you ready to reduce avoidable absences within your organization?

    To address absence management within your organization, get your Free Reducing Avoidable Absence Assessment Guide today.

    Jon Burtenshaw

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