By Omar Fercha, MA, LAT, ATC

Hey there! This is your first day, right? Ah awesome, welcome to the team!

Starting a new job is exciting. A fresh start, a new beginning, the start of a new path. But you don’t have to be the new kid in class to benefit from a fresh start. Just like the beginning of a new school year, returning to familiar halls can be a good time to reset routines, brush up on the basics, and maybe remember where you left off before summer break.

Like everything, a new beginning does come with some risk. According to a 2024 OSHA report, 36% of all workplace injury and illness cases involved employees who had been on the job for a year or less. That is roughly ⅓ of all injuries and depending on the industry you work in, it could be a bit worse. So, it begs the question, “how do I avoid falling into that injury bucket?” And for those who have been around a while, how do you make sure familiarity hasn’t turned into complacency?

Get Fit

In the industrial setting, work is more than just doing the job. Pushing, pulling, lifting, carrying are all components of being an athlete. Think of physical preparation as one class you don’t want to skip. And there isn’t an athlete out there who can sustain a long career without staying fit for their job. Maintaining a consistent strength program to help your body accommodate to the everyday stress the job puts on will help reduce the likelihood of injury. We aren’t only playing the length of 4 quarters here. We need to prepare our bodies for the marathon of a career.

Following the Rules

Your onsite safety team is there to help you while you work. As a new employee, it’s important for you to understand the rules of the game you are playing. Reviewing your hazards and evaluating your equipment sets you up to perform the job successfully. Otherwise, you could end up caught by Principal Fritz in the hallway without a hall pass, struggling to come up with an excuse for why you’re missing Geometry other than you really, really, really, had to go to the bathroom.

Freshmen aren’t the only ones who need to know the student handbook. For the upper classman, it’s a great time for a quick refresher. What has stayed the same? What new rules and regulations have been put in place? This way, you can continue to stay safe onsite but more importantly, allows you to lead by example. Nothing keeps the freshman in line when they see the upper classman taking the rules seriously. We’re not suggesting to go full choreographed musical number here to declare we’re all in this together, but that impact is huge. This creates a culture of behaviors that makes it fun to work at your company.

Perfect Attendance

A new school year isn’t only a fresh start for the freshmen. It’s a chance for everyone to get back to the basics. Learn the routines if they’re new to you. Revisit them if they’re not. And help the people around you do the same. After all, the goal isn’t perfect attendance because nobody took a sick day. It’s keeping injuries from putting anyone on the absent list in the first place.

Omar Fercha, MA, LAT, ATC || Omar is a Certified Athletic Trainer with 15 years of experience. He currently serves as a Senior Account manager for Work Right, providing support and hospitality to clients in the Pacific Northwest. Omar is a product of Washington State University, and has spent his time exploring different settings in the athletic training field. In 2012, he went on to earn his master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from New Mexico State University. When he is off the clock, you can find Omar on adventures with his wife Megan, his little girls Waverly and Wrenley, and dog, Khali.

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Be sure to check out our other blogs for further injury prevention education and tips for the industrial athlete from Work Right!