All resources available in alternate formats. Contact wcb@wcb.mb.ca to make a request.

Front-line employees in healthcare and workers compensation frequently make challenging decisions about the most appropriate treatments for injured workers to help facilitate return to work. Clinical Decision Support (CDS) tools are designed to inform these decisions based on individual worker characteristics. The primary goal of this study was to conduct a scoping review of currently available CDS tools and identify and create an inventory of tools to help stakeholders make treatment decisions for patients with musculoskeletal injuries (MSIs).

 

The final resources of this review include an inventory of available CDS tools for MSIs with commentary on the status of research in this area as well as key concepts and definitions for future reporting in this area.

With improvements in the design of total knee replacement (TKR), knee surgery has expanded to include younger, more active patients for whom return to work is an important surgical outcome. This study investigated the effect of TKR on an individual’s ability to return to work and factors that may affect return to work.

The seclusion and restraint of patients in locked rooms has historically been used to control the behaviour of mental health patients who present with aggression. Seclusion and restraint controls behaviour by restricting a patient’s mobility, but this method of control often results in physical and psychological risks to patient and staff. Studies show that seclusion and restraint has limited therapeutic value and that mental health nurses are four times more likely to be assaulted by patients than those in any other nursing discipline.

The Six Core Strategies for Reducing Seclusion and Restraint Use (SCS) program was initially implemented in the Health Sciences Centre (HSC), PY3S unit in 2011. The project achieved outstanding results as the episodes and duration of seclusion and restraint decreased dramatically as the project unfolded. Read the report on the pilot project.

In this project, the SCS program was implemented in five other units at the HSC, as well as at Grace General Hospital, St. Boniface Hospital, Seven Oaks General Hospital and Victoria General Hospital.  The results in all new sites were outstanding. Episodes of seclusion and restraint decreased by 42 per cent, duration of seclusion and restraint declined by 45 per cent and the number of work days lost due to injury decreased by 55 per cent at the completion of the project when compared to project start. The evidence shows that the SCS program is an effective injury prevention strategy as seen by the significant outcome improvements in all participating healthcare sites.

This project was based on an identified need for emerging and existing agricultural producers to access timely and relevant information on farm safety. The project was implemented to reach farmers in the agricultural sector and students in the School of Agriculture who are potential new entrants into agriculture and will be the next generation of farmers in Manitoba

The Introduction to Farm Safety course has been offered since 2013 to agricultural diploma students at the University of Manitoba and was re-developed for 2015 to be taught in a blended learning delivery format. In the blended program, part of the course is taught in a face-to-face classroom setting and the rest is completed in an online environment. The blended format acted as a stepping-stone as the Introduction to Farm Safety course was converted to an online course that will be offered to students starting January 2016.

Drywall tasks are physically demanding and drywall workers often experience musculoskeletal injuries (MSIs) to the lower back and shoulder. Gypsum Drywall Interiors Ltd (GDI) was motivated to find innovative solutions to prevent MSIs among their drywall workers as the current safe work procedures for prevention of MSIs were generic and not specific to the movements, duration, intensity and repetitiveness of tasks in the drywall industry. The goal of this project was to reduce the frequency and severity of MSIs by training supervisors to identify and correct potentially injurious movements. The project was launched at 16 GDI worksites in Winnipeg and Steinbach.

 

The project’s successful outcomes resulted in several practical interventions by GDI to invest in job site improvements that support correct work postures and practices. The project’s resources include videos of best practices and a poster to demonstrate correct job movements in drywall installation. The project demonstrated an innovative approach to injury prevention and the findings will be shared with other drywall installers in Manitoba.

 

Read the project report at the link below.

Workers in a foundry are at high risk of burns and scalding from molten metal. To reduce the risk of sustaining burn injuries among the workers in the foundry, Standard Manufacturers Services Ltd. (SMS) developed integrated safety systems to support advanced robotic technology in their foundry. The foundry manufactures aluminum castings. The project also undertook a hazard analysis of tasks and developed a manual for training workers to work safely in the foundry’s modified production processes. A video of the safe work procedures at SMS was used in a SAFE Work Manitoba safety promotion initiative. After concluding the two year project, not a single foundry worker operating the robotic arm sustained a burn injury. 

Centre for Education and Work (CEW) developed an e-book to enable businesses to deliver safety and health training to their workers in small groups throughout a business. The e-book has been customized to the iPad Textbook which has capability features to embed video, interactive charts, graphs and text to allow for a natural flow of information. This project was supported by a Research and Workplace Innovation Program (RWIP) grant.

The following project materials are available for download:

Interactive Safety E-Book Final Report

Participant Handouts

Supervisor Guide

The Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority (RHA) Home Care Musculoskeletal Injury Prevention (MSI) manual and program were developed to prevent work-related musculoskeletal injuries and near misses related to client handling practices.

The content of this manual follows Manitoba legislation outlining best practice for client handling, risks of Musculoskeletal Injuries and duties of employers and employees. The manual applies the requirements outlined by the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba and SAFE Work Manitoba. This manual ensures consistency among client handling practice and helps to prevent work injuries.

The manual was developed with support from the Research and Workplace Innovation Program.

Read the final report.

Read the manual.

After a competitive process, Prairie Research Associates Inc. was awarded the contract to undertake a review of the Safety Climate Tool used by the WCB to gather information from workers, supervisors and leaders to assess the safety climate of a workplace. The project undertook a literature review of safety climate and culture and 29 questions were selected for testing in two focus groups that comprised 20 participants from different industries. Based on feedback from the focus groups, the safety climate tool was revised and tested in two workplaces, Weststeel and Manitoba Harvest.

The survey was piloted in three other workplaces. The new survey tool has been developed and is designed to streamline data collection, diagnose safety issues in individual workplaces and compare the safety performance of workplaces surveyed.

Since embarking on the Safety Climate Survey Tool project, SAFE Work Manitoba has begun work on a number of different projects related to implementing Manitoba’s Five Year Plan for Workplace Injury and Illness Prevention. The safety climate survey is being considered as a tool to be used in a number of different SAFE Work Manitoba initiatives including safety certification.