Affiliations: Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, 71
Frankland Road, Hopkinton, MA 01748, USA | University of Massachusetts Medical School, Department
of Family Medicine and Community Health, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, MA
01655, USA | Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and Dartmouth
Medical School, One Medical Center Drive, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA
Note: [] Address for correspondence: William Shaw, Ph.D., Liberty Mutual
Research Institute for Safety, 71 Frankland Road, Hopkinton, MA 01748, USA.
Tel.: +1 508 497 0253; Fax: +1 508 435 8136; E-mail:
william.shaw@libertymutual.com
Abstract: The role of supervisors to aid injured workers, access health care,
and provide reasonable accommodation may prevent prolonged disability among
workers reporting musculoskeletal pain. Although supervisor training has been a
common element of broad-based ergonomic interventions to prevent injuries, the
impact of supervisor training alone to improve injury response has not been
studied. In a controlled design, 11 supervisors in an intervention group and 12
supervisors in a delayed intervention control group from the same plant were
provided a 4-hour training workshop. The workshop emphasized communication
skills and ergonomic accommodation for workers reporting injuries or health
concerns. 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 reductions in
injury claims and disability costs.
Keywords: Supervisor training, work injuries, disability management
