Home care providers can have high risk of insurance claims compared to other industries, especially related to employee injury.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:
- Personal care and home health aides are 62% more likely to suffer overexertion injuries than the typical worker.
- Home health aides and home nursing assistants face 5x to 7x the risk of injury from violence on the job compared to the average worker.
- For nursing assistants in the home, injury rates are as high as 336.5 per 10,000, compared to 100.4 per 10,000 for all U.S. workers.
Read on to learn the common caregiver injuries and how your organization can work to implement prevention tactics.
How to prevent common caregiver injuries
Bodies are not built to manually lift heavy objects or people on a regular basis. The force of lifting heavy objects can injure discs, muscles, joints and tendons. Home healthcare workers are particularly vulnerable to injury because:
- They receive minimal assistance when treating and handling clients
- Patient homes rarely have the equipment to help when lifting
- Some lifting techniques designed to minimize back stress may increase tension on the neck, shoulders and arms
To help your caregivers stay healthy, consider these recommendations:
- Require caregivers follow proper lifting mechanics. Provide frequent training on client handling and mobility to keep proper methods top of mind.
- Encourage caregivers to get assistance during lifts and transfer from:
- The client
- The clients’ family
- Equipment like gait belts, slip sheets, grab bars and other safety devices
- Implement a no-lift policy. To succeed, shape the infrastructure to support the policy. Include the provision of appropriate technological solutions like patient-handling equipment, patient care ergonomic assessment protocols and patient lift teams.
Reducing your risk as a business
By implementing tips from Lockton Home Care resources, you can help reduce the risks your caregivers face. However, it is also critical to have the right insurance protection, should a caregiver get injured.
With Lockton Home Care’s comprehensive, affordable insurance package, Workers’ Compensation coverage is included. This critical coverage can be challenging to obtain in the industry but because we know its importance, we include it as an option in our Home Care Insurance package.
See what this coverage will look like for your business by completing our price indication request. It takes less than 5 minutes.