Health Issues Adversely Affecting Workers’

CompensationTim Michels, Esq.

IWIF

When employees smoke, they are not the only ones who suffer the consequences

Increased medical costs, higher insurance rates, added maintenance expenses, lower productivity and high rates of absenteeism from smoking costs American businesses between $97 and $125 billion every year

Smoking

Visit healthcare professionals up to 6 times more often than non-smokers

Are admitted to the hospital almost twice as often as non-smokers

Average 1.4 additional days in the hospital per admission over non-smokers

Had about two times more lost production time per week than workers who never smoked

Profile of smokers

Workers compensation costs for a smoker average $2,189 compared to only $176 for a non-smoker

Employees who take four 20 minute smoking breaks a day actually work one month less per year than workers who don’t take smoking breaks

200 min/week x52 weeks=10,400 minutes =173 hours

Added expenses

Bones are nourished by blood much like the other organs and tissues in the body

Nutrients, minerals and oxygen area all supplied to the bones via the blood stream.

Smoking elevates the levels of nicotine in your blood and this causes the blood vessels to constrict

Nicotine constricts blood vessels approximately 25% of their normal diameters

Effects on Healing

Constriction of Blood Vessels

Cigarette smoking, which causes over 8.6 million illnesses annually in the US has been shown to have harmful effects on a variety of orthopedic conditions

Studies have shown that the numerous toxins contained in cigarette smoke can undermine fracture and ligament repair following injury and slow wound healing

Effect on Workers Compensation Claims

In addition, smokers have higher rates of hip fractures, fracture healing problems and bone infections

Smoking lengthens the amount of time for healing and thus often times delays a return to work

Smoking often leads to lost production time and increased insurance premiums

Effects on W/C claims

Offering smoking cessation programs is the number one cost effective benefit employers can provide

If brief counseling and therapy, including over-the-counter cessation aids, were offered to all smokers, it could save $3 billion in medical costs annually in the United States

What to do?

Improvement in employee health Lower absenteeism and increased

productivity Quicker Return to Work Potential for lower insurance premiums Employee support for non-smoking policies

Benefits of smoke free workplace

The fact that there is an obesity epidemic is the United States is evident everywhere

Movie theatre seats have grown from an average of 19 inches to 23 inches wide

Revolving doors from 6 feet to 8 feet Supermarket aisles have expanded from 5

feet to 7 feet.

Obesity

Obesity related healthcare costs in the $8 billion range according to the American Journal of Health Promotion

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), obesity and associated health conditions, particularly diabetes are responsible for much of the increase in employee health costs

Obesity

Nationwide, the CDC estimates that as many as 24 million Americans are diabetic and 57 million more are pre-diabetic, meaning that without an alteration in lifestyle, sugar could elevate to diabetic levels

Obese workers with diabetes are less productive on the job and more susceptible to severe injury situations that result in higher insurance costs

Obesity has a significant impact on worker productivity because the more chronic medical conditions an employee has, the higher the probability of absenteeism

Obesity/Diabetes

Obesity has been found to contribute to approximately 55% of type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes risk can be reduced in many cases by making changes in diet and increasing physical activity

Obesity and Diabetes

Nearly 6 W/C claims were filed per 100 workers of normal body mass index (BMI) compared with more than 11 claims filed per 100 of the heaviest workers

Medical and indemnity severity increase steadily with the injured worker’s BMI with costs of obese workers being more than double the average costs of workers of normal or recommended weight

Increased costs of claims

Claims: Morbidly obese workers filed 45 % more claims than non-obese workers

Lost workdays: Morbidly obese workers had 8 times the number of lost workdays vs. BMI’s in the normal range

Medical costs: Morbidly obese workers had 5.4 times higher medical costs

Indemnity costs: Morbidly obese workers had nearly eight times more indemnity costs

Duke University Study on Obesity

Consider an employee who was bumped slightly by a laundry cart:

For a healthy worker, this simple act wouldn’t even raise a bruise

An obese, diabetic worker runs the risk with any injury he incurs, even the slightest abrasion potentially escalating into a serious injury which could even lead to amputation

Workers Comp Impact

Diabetes has implications for acute and chronic wound healing

Delayed healing leads to an increased risk of infection

Wound infection leads to increased length of disability, increased seriousness of injury and financial hardships

Workers Comp Impact

Institute a Wellness Program in the Workplace

Encourage use of the stairs Make programs like Weight Watchers

available at work Experts from the local YMCA are available

on-site to discuss a healthier lifestyle Health screenings Encourage employees to determine their

BMI (Body mass index)

What to do

An employer can reduce obesity in the workplace and reduce the risk of diabetes

Along with the obvious monetary benefit, companies with a wellness program will also see increased productivity, reduced absenteeism, better morale, less employee turnover and the overall feeling by employees that management cares about their well being

Results

Body Mass Index Chart