Injury Prevention and Wellness Seminars

Training & Seminars:

Injury Prevention & Wellness Seminars for Employees

The Enemy in the Mirror® - A Motivational Injury Prevention and Wellness Seminar

No safety or wellness methods, regardless of how well conceived and researched, will succeed without effective worker motivation and compliance. Dr. Bunch's The Enemy in the Mirror® is an award-winning behavioral-based educational seminar program designed with one goal in mind - to effectively motivate employees to change work and lifestyle behaviors that will significantly reduce injuries, improve productivity, and optimize health. This process begins by looking in the mirror and taking full responsibility for our own safety and health.

Over the years Dr. Bunch has presented this dynamic seminar nation-wide as a lecturer and Keynote speaker to various safety, health and ergonomic conferences and private industries. He has also worked many years in the field with numerous onshore and offshore industries as a consultant in behavioral-based injury prevention, ergonomics, and wellness interventions. The experiences derived from his years as a cadet at West Point coupled with his extensive experience as an industrial consultant and physical therapist formed the foundation for The Enemy in the Mirror® seminar. To date, Dr. Bunch's Enemy in the Mirror Seminar has motivated thousands of attendees to commit to a life-changing paradigm shift that places health as the number one priority in life.

The Enemy in the Mirror® Seminar Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this seminar, each attendee will understand:

  1. the real causes of most health problems that affect Americans today,
  2. why traditional reactive medical treatment alone is too often ineffective,
  3. why self-responsibility and self-discipline are critical to obtaining personal optimum health today and for tomorrow,
  4. on the job and at-home methods to slow down the aging process, restore strength, flexibility, and aerobic fitness so we can enjoy our retirement years,
  5. simple ergonomic and behavioral-based methods to effectively prevent musculoskeletal disorders of the back, neck and extremities,
  6. methods to effectively reduce the risks of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes,
  7. methods to reduce the harmful effects of mental stress, and
  8. nutritional guidelines to effectively lose excess fat, increase energy levels, and strengthen the immune system.

Back-To-Fitness® - The Ultimate Back Injury Prevention Program

Back-To-Fitness® is Dr. Bunch's hallmark motivational back injury prevention and wellness seminar for employees. Back-To-Fitness® was designed with one goal in mind - to effectively motivate employees to change behaviors that will significantly improve health. This program has accomplished this goal time and time again, saving major corporations millions of dollars.

Back-To Fitness® Motivational Seminars: A singular dynamic program was designed with one goal in mind - to effectively motivate employees to change behavior that will significantly improve health.

Specific topics addressed in this seminar include:

  • The impact of injuries on personal life and work
  • Basic anatomy and biomechanics
  • Effects of improper body mechanics on the body
  • The cause of back, neck and extremity injuries
  • Why traditional reactive medical approaches fail and being proactive works
  • Why surgeries should be avoided and considered only as last resort measures
  • How to keep the body healthy by working smart
  • Proper body mechanics for safe material handling
  • McKenzie concepts, body positioning, posture relief, ergonomics and fitness
  • Reducing the risks of arthritis cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer
  • Early detection and intervention
  • Methods of effective conservative rehabilitation
  • Home and work exercises to keep the body strong, flexible and healthy
  • Proper nutrition, weight and stress control, and changing harmful habits

A one-day Back-To-Fitness Facilitator's Training Program is available to educate and train selected employees to promote and reinforce the key concepts. Contact us for a course description and proposal.

Single Topic Wellness Educational Seminars

1. Workplace Nutrition - A Recipe for Optimum Health

Many serious illnesses today, including diabetes, some forms of cancers and cardiovascular diseases, are directly or indirectly associated with improper nutrition in this country. In addition, the current obesity epidemic in the United States has created increasing problems for employers ranging from reduced ability to perform essential tasks of a job (i.e., reduced productivity) and increased incidences of illness and injuries (i.e., increased lost work days). This seminar will identify the problems with today's modern processed foods and fast food services and offer methods to assist improvement in dietary patterns of employees both on and off the job. Dr. Bunch presents a no-nonsense approach to eating healthy that will help employees lose excessive fat, combat aging, improve energy levels, and reduce the obesity-related illnesses.

2. Heart Disease and Cancer - Reducing Employee Health Risks

As the baby boomer generation comes to age, more industries today will be facing a significant increase in the two leading causes of premature death and disability among their workforce - cardiovascular disease (high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes) and cancer. Dr. Bunch addresses alterations in lifestyle and work habits, ergonomic accommodation issues, and methods of ADA-compliant fit-for duty evaluations that will help employees reduce risks of these diseases and help industries effectively deal with this growing crisis among an aging workforce.

3. Diabetes Risk Reduction

Diabetes, especially acquired type II diabetes, is a growing epidemic in the United States with associated medical costs of 300 billion dollars annually in the United States. Over 20 million people now have been diagnosed with type II diabetes in the United States with at least another 5 million who have it but are not yet diagnosed. People who are pre-diabetic or "borderline" diabetic have 10 times greater risk of heart disease than people with normal blood sugar levels. It is predicted that 1 out of 3 people born in 2000 will develop type II diabetes! Type II diabetes is a disease that is growing exponentially as a result of modern poor dietary habits and sedentary lifestyles. One of the leading causes of blindness, amputation, and cardiovascular disease in the United States, diabetes is a disease that must be controlled and prevented. Dr. Bunch presents the most common risk factors for this disease, describe a method to assess risk factors among the work force, and provide tips on how to reduce diabetic risk factors, including alteration of lifestyle habits, among the work force. He will also address modification of work processes that need to be considered when employing a diabetic person.

4. Back and Neck Injury Prevention

Back and neck injuries comprise more than 50% of workers compensations costs today in the United States and constitute the primary musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) that lead to occupational disability. Dr Bunch explains the real underlying causes of these disorders and how traditional reactive medical approaches that address primarily symptoms rather than the cause are ineffective, often doomed to failure, and too often lead to unnecessary surgeries and litigation. He offers to attendees a proven, integrative approach for addressing these disorders based on altering harmful lifestyle habits, using ergonomic and behavioral based interventions, conducting job-specific fit-for-duty functional testing, and understanding effective treatment methods that address the real causes of these MSDs.

5. Reducing Risks of Sprains and Strains - The WUPRsm Approach

Soft tissue injures involving sprains of joints and ligaments and strains of muscles and tendons are common MSDs that are very costly to industries and can lead to loss of job productivity and even long term disability. Dr. Bunch addresses an effective integrative approach involving behavioral-based safety methods, cost-effective ergonomic interventions, a highly effective on-the-job stretching program that he developed called the WUPRsm approach, and effective medical management of these disorders.

6. Managing Stress on the Job.

Mental stress is the robber of the immune system and too often life itself. Stress increases incidences of illnesses and is directly associated with fatigue-related errors in decision making and accidents on the job. In this seminar, Dr. Bunch describes a proven approach to fight the effects of stress that will improve the health of employees, reduce accident incident rates, and improve productivity. Attendees will learn how stress affects the body, methods to reduce stress in the workplace, and how to establish a natural defense mechanism that will resist the harmful effects of everyday and job-related stress.

7. Smoking Cessation

In process of development. Availability to be announced.

Looking for all these topics covered effectively in one seminar?

Back-To-Fitness integrates all previous topics into a dynamic motivational, life changing injury prevention and wellness program. A recipient of two Best Presentation Awards at the National Safety Congress and presented to over 1,100,000 people world-wide, this seminar is considered to be one of the best offered today. Unlike the individual topic seminars requiring 1 1/2 hrs, this seminar requires 3 hrs for presentation.

WorkSaver Material Handling Certification Program

ISR Institute offers the WorkSaver Material Handling Certification Program to industries to provide employees with the ultimate material handling training experience. Employees begin the WorkSaver Material Handling Certification Program by undergoing a one-hour material handling training course developed by Dr. Richard Bunch followed by demonstration of material handling techniques using proper body mechanics. Employees are then required to demonstrate competency by completing a written examination and demonstrating material handling competencies involving different tasks in the work simulated environment.

Each employee is monitored closely during the material handling practicum via heart rate monitors and analysis of proper body mechanics. By testing the employee's abilities to use the material handling techniques taught in the course in different real world contexts and environments while receiving continuous feedback, the employee truly learns how to use safe body mechanics during material handling. This can effectively reduce job-related MSDs, especially of the back.

Testing is performed in a variety of situations involving lifting, carrying, pushing and pulling using different materials such as boxes, tools, pipes, drums, buckets, etc. Material handling tasks are customized for each industry ( e.g., deckhands are tested for their ability to use correct material handling techniques while lifting and carrying ratchets). Testing can also be conducted for ability to work while maintaining balance on narrow beams and while climbing on vertical ladders with protection via anti-fall gear.

This course can be conducted at ISR Institute or at industry sites in real work environments. Each participant receives a certificate of completion if he/she successfully meets the criteria for a passing grade. Annual material handling reviews are available.