The football season is well underway and we're loving every minute of it. When it comes to safety for industrial companies, we would also love it if — the next time a game is on — you paid attention to the game-day morning shows. Watch as the cameras roam around the stadium while the players get warmed up before play. You'll learn something very interesting...

Back when we were in school, whether you played sports or attended gym class, the coaches or teachers always had you get ready by "warming up". Remember calisthenics?

Today, most industrial companies have their employees do the same thing — encouraging workers to participate in stretching before starting the day. These stretch and flex programs are designed to reduce the sprains, strains, aches and pains that come from physically-demanding manual labor. But are they enough?

Not the same old same old...
But back to football. When you see these players before the game, they're not doing the same old warm-ups that we used to do: torso twists, jumping jacks, and knee bends. They seem to be moving in the most bizarre ways possible. Some of their exercises are almost comical in their movements. 

Guess what? They have highly-trained medical experts in primary care, injury prevention, wellness education, and clinical diagnosis working with them on an individual basis. These athletic trainers are trained in physiology, kinesiology, anatomy, nutrition, physics... in other words — they know how a body moves! And they teach athletes how to properly warm up to ensure they do not get injured during the game. 

They also make sure that the athletes who have specific job duties correct warm-up those body parts. Quarterbacks aren't even allowed to pick up and throw a football until they've completed a series of shoulder, back, and forearm exercises. Running backs do their own set of leg and back exercises. You get the point. 

Yes, but they're highly-paid professional athletes that need extra protection!
True. They are compensated well. However, employees performing physical tasks that involve overexertion and repetitive motion on a daily basis are just as valuable to their company as athletes are to their team. 

Production doesn't happen and products don't ship and buildings don't get built without healthy workers. 

The same care must be given to your employees, to prevent those strains, sprains, aches and pains. Because they are your greatest asset. But most companies still do the dreaded and generic stretch & flex routine for 10 minutes during the morning safety briefing.

And that's it. But that's not enough.

Well, what do we need to do?!
Just like the athletes before the games, you need to make sure that your work athletes are warming up for the job they're about to do, based on their department or task at hand. Having everyone do the same basic exercises to stretch out is not effective. 

And, just as football players come out after half time, they need to be warming up again after every long break or lunch.  

A pre-shift warmup and post-break warmup are absolutely as essential as doing stretches for each job or department. 

I don't have time for that!
No, you probably don't.

Safety leaders are already understaffed, under-funded, and overwhelmed with the day-to-day of doing everything else that needs to be done. 

However, Healthy Roster can help you out. We provide your workers with the very same specialists that the football players have working for them. And we do it 24/7 so that every shift and every — even remote — location is covered. 

By utilizing a walk-up kiosk or mobile app, your employees can access workplace athletic trainers who can create those pre-shift and post-break warm-ups specialized and customized to a department, and the type of jobs they do, or even a specific worker. 

Stop the injuries before they occur and keep your workers working. Put an end to the groans and moans as you announce it's time for another generic stretch and flex that they half-heartedly participate in.

They'll thank you for it.