Martial arts in the workplace: Can your employees "fight" their way to safety? Employers are beginning to use martial arts as a way to teach safety and reduce accidents and injuries in the workplace

Risk & Insurance, April 15, 2002 by William Atkinson

Training Programs

One of the most active training organizations in the area of martial arts in the workplace is Portland, Oregon-based Strategic Safety Associates (SSA), which hires only instructors who are advanced martial artists themselves.

"Even our graphic artist is a martial arts instructor," states Robert Pater, managing director, who has personally been involved in the martial arts since 1983 and is an advanced-level black belt in a number of martial arts.

SSA offers a number of programs under the "MoveSmart" umbrella designed to improve mental and physical skills that have proven to reduce accidents and injuries in the workplace.

On the "mental" side, the emphasis is on attention skills. "Attention control is critical to safe performance," emphasizes Pater. "Yet, most people who have faulty attention habits are not aware of the problem." Example: On the one hand, an employee working on a machine may be distracted by nearby noise and injure himself as a result. On the other hand, that same employee might be talking to someone and fail to be alerted to the noise of an approaching forklift.

"We help employees identify attention patterns," states Pater. "Then, we teach different attention skills to help change ineffective patterns." Workers learn how to control and direct their own attention behavior.

On the physical side, SSA trainers offer a number of MoveSmart modules. One focuses on reducing strains and sprains. Another focuses on reducing slips, trips, and falls. A third focuses on hand safety. "We teach skills that help employees improve reaction time, improve the use of strength and leverage, and improve their balance," states Pater.

Rather than teach complex martial arts techniques, the instructors teach simple, easily learned techniques that aim to help workers prevent accidents and injuries. One example is training in feeling transfer forces. "What happens if you're carrying something and start to fall?" queries Pater. "How do you regain your balance, without hurting yourself?"

To make sure the techniques take hold, instructors emphasize how the mental and physical skills can be used by employees at home, not just at work. "As a result, they are more likely to learn and practice the skills," he explains.

Employer Experience

One company sold on the value of MoveSmart is Rock-Tenn in Norcross, Ga., a paperboard and packaging manufacturer with about 8,500 employees in 80 locations in North America. "In the early 1990s, we realized that our injury performance levels were unacceptable," states Gregory King, director of risk management. "We launched a relentless safety improvement process, which involved mechanical improvements, procedural improvements, and other initiatives." The company made it clear that safety was everyone's responsibility, and it began communicating with customers and even competitors to gain new insights into effective safety initiatives. "We share information ourselves with others," he adds. "We believe there should never be a barrier between companies when it comes to sharing information on safety."