This Safety Director is "Exceedingly Pleased" with TriHealth Work Capacity Services

This letter was received from a Work Capacity client in July of 2009

As Safety Director for Zenith Logistics/Verst Group, the food distribution arm of Kroger, I am responsible for giving our management team the right tools to reduce the risk of injury to themselves and our employees. Our employees are "industrial athletes" responsible for quick loading of groceries and pallets (sometimes as heavy as 100 pounds) onto trucks and hand-picking hundreds of items per day. Back strains and knee and shoulder injuries are our biggest concerns, costing our company substantial dollars in lost productivity and disability claims.

So when it was time to find a vendor to provide training on proper lifting techniques and joint protection, we sought help from our partnership with TriHealth Occupational Medicine at our local Bethesda Care in Sharonville. Their Medical Director, Dr. James Keller, referred me to occupational therapist Craig Shepherd of TriHealth's Work Capacity Program to provide the training we needed.

Before conducting the training, Craig walked through our warehouse and observed our employees in action to learn more about our environment and the issues our employees face. This showed me that he really cared about tailoring his approach to our specific work situations.

Craig began by training our locations' supervisors on a proactive approach to stopping injuries before they occur, and showed them techniques for proper lifting and joint protection. The supervisors were so excited about the training, they requested that TriHealth Work Capacity come back and provide training for our whole crew.

One of the things that impressed me most was TriHealth Work Capacity Program's willingness to provide the sessions at our facility when it was most convenient for us, including one morning at 6 a.m. It's not often that our vendors are willing to make those early times for us so our early morning shift can benefit as well.

We were exceedingly pleased with Craig, and with TriHealth and the training they provided. It showed our employees and supervisors that we care and will continue to educate them. And the small changes they can make every day will definitely reduce our risk for injuries.

So what's our next step? We're looking to have TriHealth Work Capacity travel to our Indianapolis and Louisville sites to provide training to those 570 employees as well. I'm sure there are vendors closer to them than TriHealth, but there's no one I feel as confident in providing this service. I would pay the extra travel costs to have Craig and TriHealth's expertise.

We appreciate the proactive relationship we enjoy with TriHealth Occupational Medicine, and would recommend them to anyone considering a occupational medicine provider in the Cincinnati area.

Mike Hart
Safety Director, Zenith Logistics