I have always thought that being unhealthy was also unsafe – as in higher rate of diabetes, heart disease, all sorts of chronic illnesses. Yet I never connected the dots between poor health and higher rate and severity of injuries at the worksite. 

Let me give you a bit of history. As a clinician, focused on the design and implementation of corporate wellness programs and delivery health care at the worksite, I was asked to speak at the annual Colorado Safety Association on the correlation between employee’s health and safety issues within the workplace. Was I in for a learning experience!

While investigating this topic, I was shocked at what the research showed, limited as it might be, and the high costs of an unhealthy workforce and how it is directly tied to injuries and workers’ compensation. It was so obvious the more that I read. 

We read about it every day in the newspaper – excess weight is becoming a very frightening health issue. What we are not looking for is the impact of obesity on workers’  compensation. A 2007 report by the Duke Medical Center studied the impact of body mass index for 11,000 employees. Injuries most closely related to obesity were to the back, wrist, arm, neck, shoulder, knee, foot and hip. The workers’ compensation claim rate for the heaviest employees is twice that for recommended-weight workers; number of lost workdays was almost 13 times higher; medical claims costs were seven times higher; and indemnity claims costs were 11 times higher among the heaviest workers. 

Excess weight is costing us more than we realize. So what do we do about this? Next week I will address successful programs that have resulted in weight loss and a decrease in workers’ comp claims.