California's Ergonomics Standard (CCR Title 8, Section 5110 – Repetitive Motion Injuries) mandates that employers prioritize system-level ergonomic programming. This includes comprehensive education, thorough hazard analysis, and workstation assessments, particularly for employees who frequently use computers.

The standard specifically requires worksite evaluations for any job, process, or operation where one or more repetitive motion injuries have occurred from the same task. The increasing prevalence of electronic medical records has made computer-based work, and consequently, repetitive keyboarding, a significant risk factor for upper extremity injuries within the healthcare sector.

Implementing a robust ergonomics plan – encompassing worksite assessments, clear policies and procedures, and ongoing staff education – is crucial. Such a program effectively mitigates harm to employees and reduces associated costs for employers.

An organizational program intended to reduce vehicle accidents and associated injuries, by encouraging the adoption of safe driving practices and sound mobile ergonomics for employees who work outside the office.

Motor vehicle collisions continue to generate the most major occupational injuries and remains the world’s leading cause of death for people ages 15 to 29. These incidents can have lasting financial and psychological effects on employees, coworkers, families and employers.

A comprehensive workplace program aims to prevent injuries associated with manual material handling (MMH) by focusing on the safe design of job tasks and environments. This includes evaluating and optimizing activities such as pushing, pulling, lifting, holding, and carrying material objects to foster a safe and healthy work environment.

Manual Material Handling is a common activity across all healthcare organizations in California. Occupations frequently experiencing MMH-related injuries (excluding patient handling) include material handlers, laborers, freight and stock handlers, janitors, and cleaners who routinely handled carts, equipment, and objects.

Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs): Manual material handling is a leading cause of musculoskeletal disorders with over half million injuries leading to days away from work (DAFW) in 2021-2022 period (NSC Injury Facts), which remain a significant concern in the workplace.

These statistics underscore the ongoing importance of effective MMH injury prevention programs in California workplaces, especially in healthcare, to protect employees and reduce employer costs.

Cultivating a thriving workforce requires a more sophisticated approach. The traditional model in the workplace has been centered around the protection from harm by implementing safety systems on job-tasks. Although, much progress was achieved using this method, research in the field showed the gaps and opportunities for further enhancing safety and health. The workplace is also suitable for promoting health and well-being through integrated approach.

A proactive workplace health and well-being program is paramount for fostering a resilient, engaged, and productive workforce. Beyond merely preventing injuries and illnesses, such a program takes a holistic approach, recognizing that an employee's overall well-being profoundly impacts their performance, job satisfaction, and the organization's success. This type of program extends beyond traditional occupational safety, encompassing physical, mental, and emotional health. It aims to create an environment that supports healthy lifestyle choices, reduces stress, and promotes a positive work-life balance. This idea has been the core of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) with the Total Worker Health^® (TWH) framework. BETA starts the WHWB domain by recognizing that investing in a comprehensive worker health and well-being program, organizations demonstrate a profound commitment to their most valuable asset – their people. This strategic investment not only enhances individual employee health and happiness but also translates into tangible benefits for the business, including reduced absenteeism, improved productivity, lower healthcare costs, enhanced recruitment and retention, and a stronger, more positive organizational culture.

Traditional Return to Work programs focus on returning employees to work after an extended absence. BETA’s Stay-at-Work/Return to Work (SAW/RTW) domain of our Employee Safety & Wellness Initiative (ESWI) focuses on the injured worker's ability to work, not disability.

Work-related and non-work-related injuries and illnesses can have significant negative impacts on the organization, the employee, their families, and their coworkers. Organizations must navigate through complex disability and workers’ compensation laws to assist employees through medical care and recovery. The Stay-at-Work/Return-to-Work domain introduces best practices that align with recommendations of the Fair Employment and Housing Act(FEHA), Americans with Disabilities Act(ADA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments (ADAAA) to build a new program or enhance your current program.

The core of the domain is the development of the Job Demands Analysis (JDA) and Job Demands Testing (JDT), which identify physical job demands based on the essential functions in the position description and objectively test injured workers to determine what work they can do post-injury. Medical providers refer to the JDA/JDT to establish restrictions based on the employees' ability to perform their actual job tasks. In addition to providing a guide for injured workers, the process of developing a library of job demand descriptions and tests identifies opportunities to engineer out risk exposure at the task level, as well as improving tasks for employees aging in place.

BETA’s Stay-at-Work/Return-to-Work domain toolkit includes samples and templates in a strategic program devised to support an employee’s well-being psychologically, physically, and financially. Retaining your workforce while reducing costs through a well-established program can have a far-reaching positive impact on the organization, its employees, and the bottom line.

In compliance with the California Health Care Worker Back and Musculoskeletal Injury Prevention Act, promotes the use of safe patient handling principles and evaluation of procedures and processes, thereby reducing injury while improving patient care.

Regulations from OSHA and Cal/OSHA 5120 Health Care Worker Back and Musculoskeletal Injury Prevention and Hospital Patient and Health Care Worker Injury Protection Act under California’s Labor Code 6403 affect all general acute care hospitals and requires compliance in addressing the risk for musculoskeletal injuries during employees’ handling, lifting and mobilization of patients.

Addresses common hazards as well as recognizing hidden hazards in different environments, including auditing for prevention and educating employees on their joint responsibility (in concert with leadership) to avoid injury in the workplace.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the incidence rate of lost-workday injuries from slips, trips and falls (STFs) in the healthcare industry was 38.2 per 10,000 employees, which is 90% greater than the average rate for all other private industries combined. OSHA has made STFs one of its five focus hazards in all its programmed and unprogrammed inspections in both hospitals, and nursing and residential care facilities. 

Both environmental hazards and human factors can contribute to an STF injury for employees, patients, and visitors and the outcome can be severe, both physically for the individual impacted and financially for the organization.

In accordance with California Workplace Violence Prevention in Health Care Standard, a program that assists with the creation and adoption of a Plan that includes risk assessments, reporting and recording obligations, training and hazard identification and correction, in an effort to reduce exposure to violence and associated injuries.

With more than 5 million U.S. hospital workers across all occupations, those with direct care have a high risk for workplace violence due to the populations they serve including those who may have altered mental status related to the influence of drugs and alcohol, psychiatric disorders, pain, multiple psychosocial stressors, or grief.

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates, healthcare workers sustain workplace violence injuries at a rate of 8.3 assaults per 10,000 workers, a rate over four times higher than in other professions. Psychiatric hospitals had injury rates 64 times higher and nursing and residential facilities 11 times higher than in other industries. Seventy-nine percent of the violent injuries were caused by interactions with patients.