Jackson Township

Jackson Township was founded in 1815 in Grove City and now serves over 48,000 people in the 37.4 miles that comprise the township area. The primary industry in Jackson Township is healthcare with the opening of a new hospital in 2017. With many of their employees’ jobs consisting of “eight hours of boredom with 15 minutes of terror” thrown in their day, the township decided to become proactive in their employees’ lives.

Jackson Township has taken several steps to lower their claims and increase the health of their employees. They have hired a personal trainer to look at the total person and not just at how strong their employees are. The focus is to increase the overall health of all their employees. The township has initiated a daily exercise program for all their employees and installed treadmills, exercise bicycles and other exercise equipment in their facilities to keep their employees active. One firefighter that was hired part-time from another city in Ohio recently let the township know that he has had more physical training and overall training in general than he ever did as a full-time fire fighter at his prior place of employment.

The township also has a health and safety committee that looks at how to keep their employees’ physical, emotional and mental health the best that it can be. For their firefighters, the township has started working with neighboring townships and cities to share chaplains so that the employees have someone to talk with should the need arise. The employees are also encouraged to talk about triggers that can bring about a stressful reaction so that employees can anticipate and be proactive with stressful events. The township is also working with neighboring firehouses to start an employee share program should any of the fire houses have a catastrophic event occur. This allows firefighters to be away from work to process the event while firefighters from another house cover their shift. 

Jackson Township is already seeing results from their initiatives as employees’ Body Mass Indices are dropping and the employees are telling the township how much better they feel; not just while working but in their everyday lives as well. The program has had outstanding results, with their 2020 workers’ compensation claims costs being reduced by 53% over the previous year. The township will use the  savings in workers’ comp premium to pay for the personal trainer. The results? Lower claims costs, healthier work force, better teamwork with neighboring cities and townships. Sedgwick is honored to work with such an innovative employer and come along side to assist in any way that we can.