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Corporate Medical Director
Southern California Edison

Turning Red Flags into Green

Energy utility program cuts injury rates to employees in the first year on the job.

When two of a large power company's most critical business units express concerns about a high incidence of injuries occurring during employees' first year on the job, it sets off risk management red flags.

For Dr. Susan Heller, the corporate medical director of Southern California Edison (SCE) in Rosemead, Calif., those red flags turned to green in the form of cost savings (as well as safer employees), as Heller put together an innovative and successful solution to reduce on-the-job injuries.

Heller began by meeting with business unit partners, and it was quickly decided that any solution would have to achieve several goals, including supporting safety on the job, reducing workers' compensation claims, reducing occupational injuries or illnesses that require medical treatment more than simple first aid which are recorded by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA).

Complicating matters was the fact that SCE was about to launch its biggest capital expenditure initiative in the company's 140-year history, involving replacement and/or upgrading of 50-year- old transmission lines and facilities, as well as the investment in new "green'' technology. The result was expanded growth for the company and the hiring of hundreds of new employees.

"In this environment, it was critical to ensure the hiring of healthy and productive workers in order to meet SCE's future needs," Heller said. Heller and the cross-functional team she led designed the injury-reduction program for new employees as a three-step process consisting of:

-- A post-offer medical history used to ensure a candidate's safe ability to participate in the job they were hired for, but that was not used in candidate selection. If a medical issue is identified, the candidate is asked to provide a medical authorization/release from his or her physician in order to continue with step two of the assessment.

-- A post-job offer physical examination used to ensure that the candidate is able to safely participate in job-specific testing. If a medical issue is identified, the candidate is asked to provide a medical authorization/release from his or her physician in order to continue with step three of the assessment.

-- Job-specific testing designed to establish the employee's capability to safely perform the essential job duties. Testing results are used to determine "capable" or "not capable." If a candidate is not capable of physically performing the essential job functions, he or she does not meet the requirements of the job, and the job offer can be withdrawn. The candidate can reapply again once they meet the capability job requirements.

At first, Heller thought post-employment testing could be done in-house. But after more research, SCE partnered with a vendor that could customize a program to meet the company's unique and specific needs.

With Heller's guidance, SCE chose the WorkSTEPS program, which had a post-job offer testing approach designed to be job specific by matching workers' functional capabilities with the essential job functions. Among other things, WorkSTEPS also would certify SCE's in-house medical staff to be able to perform testing at corporate headquarters.

As a success gauge, SCE used the metric of reduced and/or avoided injury costs. Since the pilot program launched in 2009, approximately 550 post-offer candidates have been tested (nine job candidates did not stay with the company as a result of testing). And while pilot expenses were approximately $96,000, the estimated savings relating specifically to reduced workers' compensation and/or disability claims and wage-replacement benefits totaled $800,000.

"The thing that is important is Heller works in a highly regulated industry," said John Koval, an account executive with Sedgwick CMS, who works directly with Heller. "With that as the context, every program Heller tries to implement has to have oversight and approval. She not only has to sell it internally, but to regulators as well. That's a real challenge."

Koval said that Heller's innovative nature, vision and willingness to take the risk associated with implementing a new program actually not only has saved the company money, but also has served to lower risk by supporting safety on the job.

"Most of all, she recognizes that an employee's ability to safely perform the job is as much a job requirement as technical expertise," Koval said.

-- Tom Starner

This Doctor is Always In

Dr. Susan Heller, corporate medical director with Southern California Edison, implemented post-employment testing at her company's corporate headquarters to determine whether employees were physically able to perform the job that they had been hired to do.

Her goals were to reduce workers' comp claims and support the overall health and productivity of the workforce.

This task was especially important because Southern California Edison was about to embark on a massive upgrade of its transmission lines and an investment in green technology.

Heller assembled a corporate team that developed a three-step program that included a post-job offer medical history review, physical examination and job-specific testing.

Her program was innovative because it complied with the Americans with Disabilities Act since it was implemented post-job offer. It's a simple distinction, but it had big ramifications: $96,000 in testing expenses quickly resulted in $800,000 in savings.

Heller was named a Responsibility Leader® this year because her work has resulted not just in bottom-line savings, but in an increase in the ability of workers to do their jobs safely, and without fear of injury.