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Your company audits its OSHA records from time to time and you begin to notice that a larger percentage of the workers are obese. These obese workers are less nimble, have more medical problems and are likely to have more sustained injuries costing you as an employer more money. Any business that has a risk & loss department should consider the affects of overweight workers and make efforts to be proactive. According to researchers at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Injury Research and Policy as reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology obese workers have more injuries. Of the 7,690 workers included in the study 29% were injured at least once. A total of 85% of the injured workers are classified as overweight or obese. The study went on further to say that 28% of these workers were simply overweight, 30% were obese and 34% were morbidly obese. “Clearly, limited resources for workplace injury prevention and control should target the most prominent and modifiable risk factors, but we cannot neglect the fact that our study and other recently published studies support an association between BMI and the risk, distribution and prevalence of workplace injury,” said Keshia M. Pollack, PhD, MPH lead author of the study. In the U.S. 64 million people are overweight and 34 million are obese. This means that nearly a third of the U.S. population is having weight problems. The trend appears to be continuing as children stay indoors and play video games, adults exercise little and food becomes more processed. The quick and instant food epidemic is destroying American lives. The problem comes to a head when employers must hire people based upon on their skills and not on their weight. Currently, it is considered illegal to discriminate on height and weight unless these factors have strong business justification. For example, a heavy worker might not be able to fit in the company’s vehicle and it would be considered an undue hardship to purchase a new vehicle. Employers should be concerned about this issue as their medical benefits, short-term, long-term disability and lawsuits rise. The employer has a couple of options of being proactive that includes starting a fitness program and pre-screen physicals. Each of these has their own benefits and cost and the employer should test these options to ensure they are effective. Pre-screen physicals do not base employment on weight but rather screen for existing conditions and whether or not the applicant can actually do the work. By screening individuals the employer can protect themselves from pre-existing conditions and people who have to strain to do their jobs. Likewise, offering things like gym memberships, healthy food in the cafeteria, as well as information on weight loss can go a long way in the long run. Murad Ali, a two-time published author, writes articles and offers advertisement space for businesses. Visit http://www.thenewbusinessworld.blogspot.com
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injuries, obese, OSHA,
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