Two occupational nurses who once worked at Kaiser Aluminum's Trentwood rolling mill have built a growing business that helps employers here reduce employees' lost work time by managing their health and safety programs better and providing work-injury case management.

The nurses, Dorothea Walters and Randi Moyer, launched Spokane-based Occupational Health Solutions Inc. in Walters' home in 2002. Today, it employs 10 people, has annual revenues of about $1 million, and has offices both here and in Salem, Ore.

Though the recession has kept revenue growth flat this year, Walters and Moyer say their venture remains profitable, and they're optimistic about its future.

Occupational Health Solutions offers a suite of services that employers can buy in packages or a la carte, including 24-hour nursing consultation services, mobile hearing testing, an employee assistance hotline that employers can offer for confidential referrals for mental health or personal issues, substance-abuse assessments, and third-party administration of worker's compensation claims for companies that self-insure their workers.

Walters and Moyer started the company after leaving what was then known as Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp., following a two-year labor dispute. Walters had managed Kaiser Trentwood's health-services department from 1991 to 2001, where Moyer also worked. Both have nursing degrees and additional certification in occupational nursing, which includes special training in health issues such as potential environmental chemical exposure, ergonomic issues, and work-related injuries.

Walters says it was clear to them that following the labor dispute, Kaiser likely would outsource its occupational nursing services, so she and Moyer decided to take the business model of occupational nursing they had developed at Kaiser and offer it through a new business. Their company now provides those services to a host of employers, including Kaiser, and such companies as Central Pre-Mix Concrete Co. and Inland Asphalt Co., both of Spokane Valley. Walters says the venture's clients primarily are companies whose employees do physically demanding work such as lumber companies and manufacturers.

Occupational Health Solutions has clients in Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon. Its office in Salem administers programs for its Oregon clients. Its office here is located at 407 E. Second, in the Summit Professional Building east of downtown.

It bills by the hour for some of its services, such as hearing testing at a company's work site, while for others, such as pre-employment screenings, it bills on a per-screening or per-use basis. For its telephone access nurse, it charges a monthly retainer fee based on the number of employees a client has, the client's U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) record, and its injury history.

Walters says that the company's first challenge always is to get in the door of a company initially so it can describe what it does. Once in, she asserts, Occupational Health Solutions generally is able to convince potential clients to build their workplace health and safety policies around contracts with the company.

She says people sometimes think of nurses as being "touchy-feely," but she and Moyer are aligned solidly with employers in the goal of reducing lost work time, which is what most employees also want.

"We talk about injury management, because that's where our clients' pocketbooks are hurting," Walters says.

Among its services, Occupational Health Solutions helps companies stay in compliance with OSHA requirements, Walters says. For example, if an employer has a noisy environment, it's required to have a hearing conservation program that includes annual hearing tests for workers. In other cases, it might help recertify a worker to drive after a physician has cleared the employee following a heart attack.

The company offers services both at its own offices or at an employer's site. It has a certified hearing tester on staff who travels to a work site in Occupational Health Solutions' mobile hearing lab to administer hearing tests. Any tests that show a shift in hearing are reviewed later by an audiologist. While other companies also offer such services, Walters asserts that its competitors for the service are located elsewhere and frequently charge clients travel costs plus a minimum half-day fee to provide testing. Occupational Health Solutions charges by the hour, so an employer can save money by being efficient and making sure employees are prompt in getting to the company's van for their hearing tests. The company's hearing tester also is certified to provide respirator fittings, which are required if an employer has workers who could be exposed to irritants, such as chlorine.

Occupational Health Solutions offers what it calls injury management, serving as a liaison between an employer and the doctors who treat an employee injured at work. Walters says a lot of physicians don't understand that many employers can minimize the cost of lost work time by putting an employee on light duty, so by knowing its clients' operations, Occupational Health Solutions can develop relationships with medical professionals that can be helpful. When an injury is reported to Occupational Health Solutions, a nurse there lets the worker's physician know that the worker has suffered a work-related injury and is coming to the physician's office, and also advises the doctor if light duty is available at the employer's work site.

The company then works with the doctor to determine if the lighter work that's available would be appropriate for the injured employee, thus reducing lost time when possible. If an employee must be off work, Occupational Health Solutions can help coordinate his or her return to work, ensuring that any required recertification is done.

Walters says many companies are measured against industry benchmarks for such things as their handling of work-related injuries, so it's important for them to minimize lost work time.

One of the ways Occupational Health Solutions helps employers to accomplish that is by working with shift supervisors to encourage employees to report overuse injuries or other injuries early, when they can be treated more easily, thereby reducing lost work time.

"The nugget of our work is being involved with our clients so we get people treated early," Walters says.

The company also has relationships with other companies located in the Summit Professional Building, including a drug-testing company and an occupational and physical therapy office, so it offers a sort of one-stop shop for employers, Walters says.

It also offers new-hire health screenings, to ensure that people hired for heavy labor are physically able to do that work. In addition, new-hire screenings help establish baselines required by law for many companies, such as a baseline hearing exam.