HEALTH & SAFETY Many a new year begins with a personal pledge to get fit and eat right. Now a Vancouver contractor has started a corporate tradition, making a company-wide resolution to prioritize health and fitness for its employees in the coming year. After a 21-year-old truck driver threw out his back last year simply by bending over, Nutter Corp., an underground utility and excavation firm, hired a health-focused consulting firm to design and implement personal training plans for each of its 184 employees. “Most of our injuries are back-related,” said Jerry Nutter, president of Nutter Corp. “Some are accidents; most are injuries. We have back injuries that happen ’cause we weren’t ready to work.” Over the next year, health consultants with ProWell Corporate Wellness, a Vancouver firm that designs custom health programs for businesses, will work with Nutter employees to improve the team’s overall wellness, reduce on-the-job injuries and cut health-care costs for the company and its workers. Employees will receive individual health assessments and work with trainers to develop goals for fitness and nutrition and are invited to attend weekly training sessions at Northwest Personal Training in Vancouver. The program is free for employees and will be extended to spouses, and participation is strictly voluntary, Nutter said. But he’ll encourage all of his employees, regardless of their current fitness levels, to participate. “What Nutter is committing to is unprecedented” in the construction industry, said Buzz Truitt, CEO of ProWell Corporate Wellness. Construction, with its physically demanding and dangerous work, has one of the highest rates of work-related injuries and illnesses in Oregon, contributing to the high workers’ compensation and health insurance costs paid by contractors. Nutter Corp. kicked off the program in December at its annual safety meeting at Club Green Meadows in Vancouver. In addition to the usual lectures on trench safety and tool care, employees received an hour-long presentation on diet and exercise from ProWell and its partner in the program, Northwest Personal Training. “OK, everybody stand up,” said Alex McMillan, owner of Northwest Personal Training, to the roomful of truck drivers and heavy equipment operators who gathered for the meeting. “Now raise your hands above your head.” A few used the mid-morning exercise as an excuse to grab a coffee or pastry at the back of the room. The rest obediently stretched their arms toward the sky. “Fitness and movement is choice,” McMillan instructed. A good diet and regular exercise are the ticket to a long career, McMillan said, offering such tips as drinking water instead of soda and doing a few quick stretches before and after driving. Even a few simple stretches before and after a long day of hunching inside a bulldozer cab, he said, could help prevent injury and maintain health. “At the end of the day, you don’t want your job to beat you up,” McMillan said. “That (thought) will keep you moving.” Each employee received a fitness assessment questionnaire at the December meeting to complete and bring to his or her individual consultation. At consultation sessions, which will begin in February, employees will receive guidance on setting long-term training and nutrition goals. Weekly fitness training sessions at Northwest Personal Training will focus on stretching and building cardiac strength. “We could put a price on a 330 (backhoe) or a shovel, but is there anyone in this room that could put a price on yourself?” Jerry Nutter said to the roomful of equipment operators. “It’s priceless.”
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Coming Again in 2010!-------  |
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NW YOUTH CAREERS EXPO
