Stretch Your Team to Workplace Safety

Maintaining a healthy team leads to a healthy bottom line, so preaching the value of safety is a top-line priority. The Materials Management team in Sacramento operates in tight quarters, and the work of distributing nearly all of the hospital's supplies can put the body through its paces. After the team experienced nine workplace injuries during one reporting year, the UBT found a video on stretching to help mitigate repetitive-use injuries. They added these stretches to their daily 7 a.m. huddles and discussed safety on a regular basis. They effectively cut their injury rate to 0.

Here's What Worked

• Developing stretching routines that target large muscle groups and various joint areas
• Adding stretch routines that help lifting, pulling, pushing and twisting to daily 7 a.m. huddles
• Discussing workplace safety at every morning huddle and encouraging full participation

What can your team do to prevent injuries?