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Good Shepherd Nursing Home Works With OSHA On-site Consultation, Reduces Workers' Compensation Costs Over $800,000

Members of the Good Shepherd Nursing Home Safety Committee--Left to right: Betty Schafer, J.R. Shreve and Elizabeth Hartman.   Good Shepherd Nursing Home of Wheeling, West Virginia, has achieved the perfect balance between OSHA compliance, protecting its workers, and profitability. In 2000, Good Shepherd was the first health care facility and only the fourth business in West Virginia to have received the SHARP (Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program) designation. Donald Kirsch, Good Shepherd’s Nursing Home Administrator stated, "With the help of OSHA and the West Virginia Safety On-site Consultation Service, our work related injuries dropped so much that our workers compensation rate declined." He reported that between the years of 2000 to 2005, Good Shepherd’s workers’ compensation insurance premiums were reduced in excess of $800,000! Kirsch explained that the work environment at Good Shepherd is very good, and that the workers feel like a close group, noting that the average length of service is nine years for all staff members, and 18 years for administrative staff. He said that the Good Shepherd safety committee’s philosophy is: "The greatest gift that we as staff members can give to each other is the gift of a safe work environment." Kirsch reported that less staff turnover creates a more efficient, highly skilled, and competent workforce, adding that "a highly efficient and highly skilled workforce makes fewer mistakes, reduces exposure to liability, and keeps insurance premiums low." While working with On-site Consultation, Good Shepherd’s Safety Committee analyzed the injury-incident reports and zeroed in on the fact that many of the facility’s injuries were related to heavy lifting. As a result, the facility purchased a mechanical lifting device to assist staff members in moving residents from their beds to their chairs. Additionally, with the assistance of On-site Consultation, Good Shepherd’s Safety Committee developed and implemented a comprehensive safety program comprised of the key elements of management leadership; employee participation; safety and health training; a workplace analysis; and hazard prevention and control. The new safety and health management program resulted in a 62 percent decrease in work related injuries in 1998. This put the company on the road to becoming SHARP. After first becoming a SHARP company in 2000, Good Shepherd received the SHARP Award again in 2001, 2003, and 2006 due to their sustained reductions in work related injuries and illnesses. "Achieving SHARP has created a new sense of accomplishment and purpose among the staff. I wish to thank the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for allocating funds to the states for the creation of the On-site Consultation Program," said Mr. Kirsch. Good Shepherd was established in December of 1970 to provide long-term care services to aged residents of the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia and contiguous counties in Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. Good Shepherd opened with sixteen residents and through a series of expansions grew to its present capacity of 192 residents, making it the largest non-profit nursing home in West Virginia and the state’s second largest nursing home overall. Good Shepherd employs 229 full- and part-time personnel. The physical plant, which houses their operation, is approximately 175,000 square feet.

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