Why implement the JointAction Program?
The program's purpose is to prevent musculoskeletal and slip, trip & fall injuries; and to enhance musculoskeletal health and mobility generally.
The program typically pays its own way; by reducing work cover premiums by more than the program costs, meaning that most organisations actually save money by implementing the JointAction program.
Fewer musculoskeletal injuries, and greater mobility for longer in life are desirable for everyone, from management to workers. Achieving these outcomes can reflect positively on the profile of the business.
Work is the strongest influence on musculoskeletal health, and it doesn't always have to be a negative influence. The JointAction program analyses musculoskeletal loading, and looks for strategies for positive change.
What is the program?
The program, at its simplest, is a supported education program consisting of 3 core areas that are focused on:
Physical Ergonomics
The physical ergonomics part of the program is concerned with how people's bodies and their environments interact at work. We use an approach which identifies and manages physical ergonomic risks as close to their source as possible. This means applying proper management systems, engineering solutions and knowledge & skills development for workforce and management. Our risk identification and scoring system allows the ranking of MSD risk alongside other OHS risk.
Educative Physiotherapy
Our starting point is that physical work can be healthy or unhealthy; hazardous or healing. The program then provides essential skills and building blocks of knowledge to enable individuals and organisations to identify the effects their work is having on their bodies, and to take steps to reduce, eliminate or manage those effects.
Skills taught in educative physiotherapy sessions promote self awareness and early action by employees and management, in order the prevent the escalation of aches and pain into injury.
Exercise & Health
All tasks at work require a certain amount of effort and skill, and everybody has a maximum amount of effort they can give. Some daily work routines are well below an individuals physical capability while others may be near the limits. The exercise and health sessions focus on developing some basic traits that can impact on work readiness and enjoyment. These may include core strength, functional flexibility and mobility. The JointAction program is not a "fit for work" program, but interested employees may seek advice and guidance if interested in this area.
The sessions are educationally focussed, and aim to promote body awareness, as well as being therapeutic and enjoyable.
We often refer to "The four joints", to reflect our philosophy and approach:
- Healthy joints in the body
- Joint skills in our team
- Joint effort between JointAction and your organisation
- Joint effort between management and workers
How does the program work?
Stage 1 - Observation & Assessment
JointAction performs a full biometric & physiological analysis of the work being done, whilst also discussing with workers and management the nature of the work, what they view as points of interest and what they think the program should address. Careful listening, interviewing and consultation on musculoskeletal needs and program delivery are of key imprtance from the outset.
Stage 1 directly quantifies the work, as it can sometimes be surprising to find out just how hard some activities are on the body; observes and measures the musculoskeletal risk and obtains understanding of the organisation and its people's musculoskeletal needs to enable the design of an effective program.
Stage 2 - Engagement & program design
From that initial observation and assessment, we then tailor the program and the delivery formats to suit the needs and situations of the specific organisation.
To help engagement and generate initial interest in the program, we have what we call a "pre-launch sessions" which involve pre-launch training, and "interactive taster sessions".
Pre-launch training engages management, ohs staff and safety representatives
For interactive tasters we generally set up in a break area where people are free to interact with us if they wish, sharing their thoughts while experiencing interactive Educational Physiotherapy, Physical Ergonomics and Exercise & Health approaches to understanding and prevention of musculoskeletal injuries.
This introduces people to JointAction concepts and people in a fun and engaing way, promoting general interest and enthusiasm for the program.
After the pre-launch the official launch is held. This explains the details of program to everyone in the organisation, and they can interact with and benefit from it over the coming months.
Stage 3 - Program roll-out
After the completion of stages one and two, the specialised program is then delivered to the organisation via monthly delivery of topics, information and on-site visits.
The program delivery can take many different forms, but can include:
- Education physiotherapy sessions
- Online video topics
- Quarterly DVD distributions
- Newsletter content
- Physical ergonomics consultation and education
- Online library/archives access
- Supporting software
- JointActionDirect contact system
Sporting Connection
Whilst it's all very well and good to have an amazing musculoskeletal injury prevention program from leading experts using the latest information, unless there is buy-in within the organisation it all goes to waste.
This is the reason we incorporate well-known people from elite-level sport to not-only help sell the program, but also to provide practical information and lessons. People such as Doug Hawkins and George Gregan are both known for not only their amazing performances, but also their approach to taking care of their bodies throughout all the hard games. They get people listening and start them thinking about musculoskeletal health. JointAction can then provide the supportive education for effective injury prevention action.
The JointAction program is a supported education program, meaning that we don't just dump a bunch of content on you and hope for the best. We work with you over time to ensure that the program is working for your organisation, and to adapt the program to your changing needs.