Designing a Supervisory Training Program to Optimize Injury Response: A Macroergonomics Approach

The role of supervisors to aid injured workers by accessing health care and providing reasonable accommodations has been suggested as a means to prevent prolonged disability among workers experiencing musculoskeletal pain and discomfort. Based on a macroergonomic approach, a 4-hour supervisor training workshop was designed to optimize supervisors' responses to work injuries through improved communication and accommodation. Supervisors from two industries provided high ratings of the workshop, and showed post-training improvements in injury-related attitudes and perceived ability to communicate with and accommodate injured workers effectively. Workers' compensation claims data in the 7 months before and after the workshop showed a 47% reduction in new claims and an 18% reduction in active lost-time claims versus 27% and 7% respectively, in the control group. Improving the response of frontline supervisors to employees' work-related health and safety concerns may produce sustainable reduction in injury claims and disability costs.