Is your staff afflicted with OWES? This insidious malady, which exists in many North American workplaces, results in countless lost workdays, untold pain and suffering, as well as embarrassment. We've found it in our multi-facility healthcare organization. Let me explain to you what OWES is and what we're doing to combat it.

New Name for Timeless Hazard

OWES - pronounced "owies" - stands for "Own Worst Enemy Syndrome." Lots of employers have discovered it. Our moment of revelation came during a recent meeting of the office complex safety committee. The light went on when our Occupational Health Nurse presented the employee injury report for the preceding quarter. We noticed that a number of the injuries were essentially self-inflicted and did not result directly from performing job duties. These included:

• Tripping over own purse or lunch bag
• Sitting down and missing the chair
• Spilling hot soup or coffee on one's lap
• Walking into a wall or door
• Tripping over a curb or a cord strung across a cubicle floor
• Hitting head on an open file drawer
• Slipping on snow or ice while wearing smooth-soled or high-heeled footwear
• Being struck by an automobile while crossing the street inappropriately

The list goes on. OWES refers only to those injuries often attributed to the victim being "accident-prone," "klutzy," "clumsy," "uncoordinated" or some other equally unflattering adjective. OWES-related injuries don't include those resulting from horseplay, intentional violations of the law, fighting, intentionally injuring oneself or injuries incurred while under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs. Nor are we talking about those injuries resulting from failure to use appropriate PPE or to follow established safe work rules.

What Causes OWES?

OWES afflicts employees who have a diminished awareness of the world around them. This diminished awareness is caused by fatigue, distraction, boredom or simply a momentary wandering of the mind. While this condition is usually brief, it lasts long enough for an accident to happen. And it can happen to anyone.

Effect of OWES on a Company's Bottom Line

After speaking with several Employee and Occupational Health Nurses, we found that injuries resulting from OWES account for anywhere from 10-50% of all workplace injuries. Reducing even a portion of OWES-related injuries can positively impact our bottom line.

Preventive Measures

So how can we reduce the number of OWES-related injuries? We can be certain that no amount of new legislation, aggressive enforcement of existing legislation or establishment of new work rules, policies or procedures will help.

Our committee decided to address this hazard in our workplace with a campaign to remind employees that OWES is a serious problem and that to let one's mind wander for even a moment can have serious consequences. Our campaign includes:

• Catchy slogans, such as "Work is a full time job," "Be aware of the world around you," "Distractions lead to fractures" and "Safety awareness - all the time";
• Staff meetings to discuss the problem and the incidents (without embarrassing the victim);
• Asking employees to discuss any OWES-related incidents, whether on or off the job (totally voluntary, of course). My favorite so far is the friend of ours who was on a stepladder in her kitchen. When she stepped back to admire her work, she found herself flat on her back on the floor with the wind knocked out of her.

For now, our campaign is focused on our office facilities. If we're successful in reducing OWES-related injuries there, then we may be able to expand it to our hospitals and clinics.

Conclusion

We're still in the early stages of our campaign. Over the next year, we'll review injury data to see if our campaign has had any measurable impact on OWES-related injuries. I'll let you know the results and pass along what worked, what didn't and any lessons learned along the way.

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