A Milwaukee manufacturer cuts its health care costs, increases its profits and improves its workers’ quality of life by implementing a stretching program at the beginning of each shift. P&H Mining Equipment, a company owned by Milwaukee-based Joy Global Inc., has an aging workforce. Many of the employees had experienced frequent strain and sprain injuries on the factory floor. The injuries were mainly the result of the physical demands, awkward positions and prolonged positions required by the types of tasks the employees perform on a daily basis, said Brenda Hanamann, manufacturing product manager in the shovels/drill factory.
P&H had implemented ergonomic improvements in the Milwaukee factory over the past few years but wanted to bring a safety and wellness program to its employees, Hanamann said.
“With the history of strains and sprain injuries, we felt this could benefit employees at work and in the rest of their lives, not just while at work specifically,” Hanamann said.
P&H worked with Jennifer Pollak, a physical therapist in rehabilitation services at Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care, to implement the stretching programs in the shovels/drill factory in May 2005.
The stretching program was developed around the positions, physical demands and types of tools that employees use while working, Pollak said.
Stretches include shoulder stretches for reaching; calf and hamstring stretches that help with the ability to protect the back when lifting; back flexibility stretches that help when employees have prolonged positions when welding; neck stretches to help with awareness surrounding general fatigue; and forearm stretches to reduce the strain on hands and forearms.
P&H decided to implement the program into each department slowly to make sure employees understand the benefits and do the stretches correctly. Currently, 50 percent of the employees have had the opportunity to stretch before their shift. Stretches are led by an employee volunteer.
In the departments that have been stretching, P&H has seen a 33 percent overall decrease in sprain and strain injuries, said Craig Stenz, safety and environmental manager for P&H. And when the groups that stretch do experience sprain and strain injuries, P&H saw a 60 percent decrease in the number of days of restricted work and an overall reduction in the severity of the injuries, he said.
Before rolling out the program, P&H sent articles about stretching home with employees in their paychecks, held a kickoff meeting and offered individual assessments of flexibility, Pollak said.
The employees participating not only know the different stretches, but they are educated on the importance of stretching.
“Stretching helps increase blood flow and warm up the muscles so (individuals) are less likely to get injured, they have improved posture, increased range of motion and better balance,” Pollak said.
Workers are paid during the time the stretching program is conducted and ultimately have the choice to either participate or go straight to work. More than 95 percent of employees within departments that have implemented the stretching program participate, Hanamann said.
Employees in the welding and processing departments that have shifts starting at 7 a.m. were the first to utilize the stretching program. Of the employees who participate in the stretching in that shift, 85 percent have felt a tangible difference in flexibility and range of motion and 47 percent stretch outside of work, Stenz said.
Since the success of the stretching program, P&H has held other sessions on health-related topics to educate its workforce.
P&H started the stretching program with three goals in mind, Hanamann said.
“One was the result, which was to have a skilled, experienced workforce that performs important jobs for us,” Hanamann said. “When they are here they make products and take care of our customers for us.”
The possibility of reducing health care costs for the company and its employees was also a driving force behind the stretching program.
“But the most important reason was because we don’t believe people should have to come to work to earn a living, get hurt and suffer physically,” Hanamann said. “People don’t have to get hurt in the process of taking care of their families.”
An indirect result of the stretching program was a boost in employee morale, Stenz said. “Employees as a group are getting together in the morning before their shift, they have something in common and it starts the day on the right foot,” Stenz said. “It hopefully sets the tone as well.”
