Working together with Southeastern

Delivering proactive musculoskeletal solutions for employee wellbeing

10x

Return on Investment

Working together with Southeastern

Delivering proactive musculoskeletal solutions for employee wellbeing

10x

Return on Investment

The Customer

Southeastern (SE) operate one of the busiest networks in the country and also run the UK’s first domestic high speed service with Javelin trains.

Southeastern runs train services into London from Kent and East Sussex:

  • Operating over 1,700 trains a day
  • Manage 165 stations across south-east London, Kent and East Sussex
  • Carrying more than 500,000 passengers
  • Serving 180 stations and covering 540 miles of track
  • 399 trains
  • Over 4,500 employees
  • 140mph top speed on the UK’s first domestic highspeed service

The Pilot

Back in Action UK have been SE’s sole occupational physiotherapy provider since 2016 when SE wanted to provide a physiotherapy service as part of its health and wellbeing strategy.  SE had identified that they had significant sickness absence associated with musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) which they were looking to better manage.

The Back in Action UK physiotherapy service was initially introduced as a 4 month pilot, the results of which were significant:

  • 43 referrals overall to Back in Action UK with the on-site clinic fully utilised each week.
  • Where the physio service had been utilised most (Engineering) there had been a significant decrease in sickness caused by MSD issues. In the same 4 months in the year prior, MSDs accounted for 39% of all sickness, compared to 26% with the introduction of Back in Action UK.
  • In Train Services, MSDs accounted for 50% of sickness in the same 4 months in the year prior, compared to 25% with the introduction of Back in Action UK.

As a result of this successful pilot, the physiotherapy service was expanded across the business with remote physiotherapy assessments as the first point of entry with onward referral if needed to the SE onsite physiotherapy clinics at Ramsgate, London Bridge, Dartford, and most recently Sevenoaks.

Accreditations

Over the 8 years of service, it is calculated that Back in Action UK has saved SE:

  • Over £5M in direct absence costs.
  • Over £12M in proactively keeping employees at work who otherwise would have gone off.
  • A reduction in musculoskeletal claims on employee’s private medical insurance potentially resulting in lower annual premiums.
  • A reduction in the number and size of employee litigation claims.

After paying for BIA UK services, and if just the direct absence costs are considered, this equates to an estimated ROI of over 10:1

Over the last 3 years, BIA UK have been working with SE on further proactive projects, all to decrease the risk and prevalence of injuries and MSD ill-health from happening in the first place.  One such project was around change behaviour of drivers as this group had been identified as the biggest users of the BIA UK service, with low back pain being the main reason for referral.

The five main factors that BIA UK identified as causative factors were:

  1. Poor awareness of how to set up the cab properly.
  2. Lack of movement when driving.
  3. Awkward positions when in station and pulling away from station.
  4. Incorrect or poorly worded guidance documentation.
  5. Lack of training and understanding of good posture and ergonomics amongst the trainers, instructors, and managers.

Service key stats

10 fold

Return on investment

Over £5m

saved in direct absence costs

Over £12m

saved in preventing absence

100%

of service users needs met

25%

reduction in MSK absence

10 fold

Return on investment

Over £5m

saved in direct absence costs

Over £12m

saved in preventing absence

100%

of service users needs met

25%

reduction in MSK absence

Together BIA UK and SE provided the following interventions which were implemented throughout the company with significant positive feedback

 

  • Driver education on how to set themselves up in the cab in the best way.
  • Educate the driver trainers, managers, and instructors to train and evaluate the ability of drivers to set themselves up in the best way, enabling them to assess and advise.
  • An informative campaign for existing drivers about the risks associated with poor posture in the cab and to promote behavioural change.
  • Support drivers to work with confidence, according to the safety procedures already set out by the company, with specific focus on the DOO operations.
  • Educate drivers about the importance of movement, the effects of sustained poor postures and repetitive activities.
  • Inform drivers about realistic ways they can introduce more movement when driving and reduce their own risk of MSK injury.
  • Provide the company with a suitable lumbar support that can be issued to any driver that has a need to use it and a specialist support that can be issued by Back in Action UK if required.
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How much could you save on absence days?

Find out what you could be saving with our service

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Your Employees

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Absence could be costing you:

Estimated MSK Absence Cost: £ 0
Estimated Presenteeism Cost: £ 0
Cumulative cost of MSK Issue: £ 0
Annual BIA Service Cost: Around £ 0
Estimated ROI: 0
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