Before the pandemic hit in 2020, the labor shortage in U.S. factories was already problematic. They found it difficult to fill a large amount of open positions. For many manufacturers and distributors, production got pushed into high gear to handle the increased demand from consumers. Despite the high demand for factory workers, most of the people who had lost service jobs did not migrate to the open jobs on assembly lines. 

In March 2021, the US Labor Department stated that 916,000 new jobs were created, the most since August 2020, and that includes 53,000 new manufacturing positions (the highest in 6 months.) Manufacturing suffered the least amount of job losses during the pandemic, with factory unemployment under 4% (overall US is 5.5%.) 

More Overtime, Fewer Workers, Less Safety

While demand for manufacturing production remains high, the number of job applicants to these positions remains low. All this leads to a troubling issue when it comes to worker safety in the factories. With fewer employees, who must try desperately hard to keep up with demand, those people will need to work more overtime and do the same amount of work usually done by two or more workers. 

Ultimate Kronos Group, is a tech company that provides time management for small and mid-sized businesses, said in a recent article that "employee shift work at U.S. manufacturers was up 3.4% in mid-March from mid-February, outpacing a 2.6% increase across all industries."

In many studies, the effects of overtime have consistently pointed to fatigue as a potential factor that produces a 200% increase in the accident rate, after 8 hours of work, and increases in the number of back injuries. Overall worker health from overwork and overtime can lead to general poor health for employees.

Dealing with all this can have even more adverse effects on the manufacturing company. Along with a chance for increased health problems and safety risks, companies may start to see a decrease in productivity, increased absenteeism, and higher turnover rates. 

What is the Solution During a Labor Shortage?

Along with managing overtime to ensure worker health and adding additional qualified employees whenever possible, the latest injury prevention technology has shown great benefits. 

The right injury prevention system will help curtail incidents from occurring, triage minor injuries early to keep them from getting worse, and give factory workers access to healthcare professionals while they remain on the worksite. 

Even though demand is high, overall factory output may be down. This means the hiring additional safety team members is not in the budget and that's where a virtual injury prevention solution like Healthy Roster comes in.  

We provide a flexible, remote telehealth platform that extends safety for every person, on every shift, at every location.

Our system provides occupational incident triage, via video, where an industrial medical professional, with robust OSHA First Aid training, can remotely triage an injury at the job site. This can help prevent or lower lost time for the worker who otherwise would have to visit a doctor. This technology can also reduce avoidable claims, with 24/7 guidance, during any shift. With Healthy Roster in place, companies can save time by triaging work related injuries onsite with medical providers and avoiding missed work time in transit and in clinic waiting rooms.

Companies can increase safety with remote prevention features as well because self-care options can be expanded and ergonomic assessments conducted. By using a workplace injury prevention solution, manufacturers can proactively eliminate common injuries through jobsite analysis and coaching to improve pre-work programs and reduce MSK and repetitive motion issues.

• Reduce the risk of recordables and claims by conducting personalized job coaching based in the worksites to increase preventative programs such as pre-shift warmups and micro breaks.
• Augment your safety teams—without hiring full-time staff—to expand coverage to remote locations or during late shifts with this powerful communication technology. Give your workers access to training, stretches, and other preventative programs through telehealth.
• Keep your workers happier. They won't have to miss as many, if any, work days. You'll boost morale because they can take advantage of an easy-to-use system that offers access to care without having to leave the plant. And adding this type of program will engage workers and let them know that care is a company priority.  

Interested in learning more about our Virtual Injury Prevention platform for industrial and manufacturing companies? Talk to us today.