As an employer, you might not think much about what makes an athlete. But doing so can provide a leap ahead in how you protect and support workers to keep them safe from injuries.  

Viewing workers as industrial athletes addresses the toll that physical work can take and seeks to prepare employees for work, address minor issues before they become obstacles, and manage risks presented by chronic conditions. It’s based on the idea that doing physical work requires preparation and training—just like a professional athlete would receive—and a proper warm-up rather than diving right into a 10/10 physical effort before the body is ready for it.  

The concept of industrial athletes represents an important shift in how employers mitigate risk and keep employees healthy and active, and I think it can make a huge difference in preventing injuries—especially sprains and strains.  

Despite ergonomics improvements and decades of strains and sprains claiming a sizable portion of workers’ compensation claims (up to 40%, according to some estimates), musculoskeletal injuries remain extremely common and in fact occur much more often than they need to. With so many of them happening, these injuries continue to top federal agency rundowns of work-related injury costs, lost workdays, and reduced productivity. Musculoskeletal injuries cross industry boundaries, affecting those in manufacturing, construction, health care, and office environments—and many others. 

Worse, the indirect costs of strains and sprains (for example, training and lost productivity) regularly surpass direct medical and indemnity costs. The most recent National Safety Council data shows the total cost of a strain or sprain averages $38,288. And OSHA Safety Pays methodology and NCCI claim data show that total costs for a typical sprain or strain (including indirect costs) can easily exceed $50,000–$70,000. Prevention pays—a lot.  

The flipside of that figure is this eye-opening ratio: Every dollar invested in safety programs (which include ergonomics) saves $4 to $6 in costs related to injuries and may lower insurance premiums; other federal studies put that figure as high as $10. Ensuring a healthier workforce brings wide-ranging benefits to all involved. Getting there depends on a combination of ergonomics, holistic wellness, and a culture that trains workers as industrial athletes. 

Ergonomics isn’t limited to whether a monitor is at eye level or machinery forces a worker to stoop but includes the bigger picture of how the actual humans at work can use their bodies in healthy ways. It’s about making sure equipment and processes fit the person who spends their workdays using them, whether in a warehouse or at a desk.  

I’d argue that the big picture of ergonomics also includes a culture of wellness, ensuring your teams have what they need to address the fuller picture of health—and that they feel welcome to speak up when something isn’t working for them.  

If you aren’t already providing wellness programs that support employee well-being from all angles, there’s no time like now to start. I can’t say enough about the positive impact of showing your teams you value their health, especially when they begin to apply what you’ve incentivized them to learn about nutrition, exercise, mental health, and so on. All of which brings me to a fairly recent and extremely important safety and ergonomics movement— that of the industrial athlete.  

Although musculoskeletal injuries show up in all kinds of jobs, they are, unsurprisingly, more common in jobs that demand a lot of activity, physical skill, or repetitive movement. A person who walks ten miles around a hospital, job site, or warehouse all day might not think of themselves as an athlete, for example, but their activity level would say otherwise. That’s a lot of wear and tear, and a lot of opportunity to fall or otherwise experience an injury.  

Because more physical exertion tends to mean more issues, the concept of an industrial athlete is meant to encourage a more proactive approach to health, strength, and injury prevention. It also applies to how—and how soon—injuries are treated. It means helping avoid injuries in the first place with targeted strength training and warmups for specific job categories. Basketball players don’t hit the court without warming up, and neither should the electrician or the assembly worker. 

When you think of how you’ll spend those injury-prevention dollars (the ones that save you $4 to $6, don’t forget), consider training employees in how to prepare for work, do their jobs efficiently and safely, and how to stretch and recover after a work day, just like LeBron James] would.  

Given the wealth of data showing the human and economic benefit of ergonomics programs and injury prevention, it should be no surprise that detailing your own efforts will improve your market access and may reduce premiums. A basic ergonomics program isn’t anything more than table stakes at this point. Smart employers utilize their own and industry data to align ergonomics and wellness interventions to actual trends and job functions.  

Your best bet for reducing your total cost of risk is to integrate a stretch and flex program, early reporting, claims management, and return-to-work strategies into your ergonomics program. We help organizations implement scalable ergonomics strategies that balance risk reduction with cost discipline.  

Get in touch, and we’ll help you find the right resources and tools for your business, like our safety culture survey, which delivers critical information about where employees see room for improvement.