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Proactive Problem Solving Reduces Workplace Injuries

Reducing workplace injuries is every responsible business owner’s goal. Not only do you value your employees’ health and safety, but the cost of ignoring workplace safety — high medical, insurance, workers’ compensation and lost man-hour costs — can be staggering. It pays to be proactive in looking for potential injury-causing problems and coming up with ergonomic solutions that improve the fit between the work and the worker.

Developing a proactive plan to reduce workplace injuries is a four-step process:

Observe and question
Set priorities
Implement improvements
Follow up

1. Observe and question.

Look for clues to possible problem areas in available statistical data. Check injury reports for patterns that indicate higher injury rates for certain tasks or in certain areas. OSHA logs, worker reports and complaints, absence rates, and workers’ compensation reports are good starting points. Ask if your workers’ compensation insurance carrier provides workplace assessment surveys as part of their risk-management services.

Look at production reports for bottleneck areas. Check quality control reports for poor quality product or service. Problems can indicate areas where workers are having difficulty completing tasks effectively under current conditions. The root cause of such problems is often poorly designed equipment or task procedures.

Spend some time following the entire process of your business from start to finish. Pay particular attention to areas highlighted by the data review. Observe the way workers do their jobs. Watch for risk factors such as awkward postures, repetitive motions, forceful exertions, pressure points or extended periods spent in the same position. Watch for signs of worker discomfort or pain such as self-restricting movements, efforts not to move certain body parts or massaging hands, arms, legs, necks or backs. Pay attention to unnecessary handling and duplication of material or product movement.

Look for ways in which workers have modified standard procedures to make it easier to do their work, including modifications to tools, equipment, workstations or task performance. Talk to managers but also talk to the workers who actually perform the tasks. Ask workers how they would change the work process, operations, tools or equipment to make their jobs less physically demanding and more efficient. You’ll get a clear idea of what isn’t working and may get some excellent suggestions for improvement.

Continued next time

ANSI Upholds Construction Ergonomic Standard

The American National Standards Institute recently upheld its adoption of ergonomic standards in the construction industry. Rejecting an appeal by the Construction Industry Employer Coalition to withdraw adoption of the approved voluntary consensus standard on the reduction of musculoskeletal problems (ANSI/ASSE A10.40-2007), ANSI reaffirmed the importance of ergonomic design and safe practices in preventing injuries to construction workers.

The appeal by a coalition of five construction trade associations was the latest attempt to derail the ANSI standard approved last year. The coalition first appealed the ergonomic standard during hearings held in May 2007. An appeals panel found those complaints to be without merit, a decision supported by the American Society of Safety Engineers, and the standard was formally approved on July 23, 2007. Shortly thereafter, the coalition filed the formal appeal that was just rejected.

“We are pleased with ANSI Board of Standards Review’s decision to uphold the approval and publication of the A10.40 standard, said ASSE VP James Smith, CSP.” At ASSE we are committed to the protection of people, property and the environment and this standard is an excellent step in protecting workers from injury and in helping to create safer and more healthy workplaces.”

“National consensus standards, such as A10.40, reflect the insights of the final users and the opinions of professionals who work at all levels of public and private sectors in technology development, safety and health, manufacturing, training, financial analysis, personnel and academia,” said A10 Committee Chair Richard King, CSP, CRSP. “This balanced perspective enables standards to be crafted in a manner that benefits and protects standard users.”

Preventing Worker Paranoia

In times of economic uncertainty like today when people feel they have less control over their jobs, their income and their lives, it is common for people to engage in a psychological phenomenon called pattern perception (see our June 10 post). Uncertainty about the future generates feelings of unease that can cause considerable stress, leading the mind to search for patterns in events where no patterns exist. It’s a phenomenon that has people seeing conspiracies in government actions and finding hidden, unintended meanings in business announcements. It’s the phenomenon that causes people to think the worst when managers meet behind closed doors or co-workers start whispering. Illusory pattern perception feeds company gossip mills to negative effect, sowing seeds of dissatisfaction. The result can cause paranoia that negatively impacts worker efficiency, decreasing product quality and slowing production.

How do companies keep paranoia from spreading through their workforce? Human resources experts say open, honest and frequent communication is the key to reassuring nervous employees. Companies must be proactive in addressing not only internal gossip but external rumors. A brief news article or minor drop in a company’s stock can generate fear far out-of-proportion to the actual event. If faulty information is not corrected immediately, it has the potential to mushroom into panic that can cripple your workforce — and even worry investors and stockholders. Addressing issues as they occur via email, memoranda and company newsletter is important; but don’t ignore the value of the personal touch.

Nothing alleviates fear like the ability to address it head on. Open meetings allow managers to directly address worker fears, project calm and provide accurate information. Q&A sessions can provide workers with the opportunity to voice their concerns and ask for the specific information they need to feel confident about their position in the company. Allowing give-and-take sessions between management and workers provides managers with valuable information about worker concerns and the current psychological state of their workforce. For workers, such sessions meet two psychologically critical needs:

They allow workers a direct avenue to management, making them feel empowered and more in control of their destinies.
They serve to invest workers in company processes, increasing feelings of control by promoting a “we’re all in this together” sense of community.

Communication with its workforce should always be high on a company’s agenda; but in these uncertain economic times, effective communication with your employees can have a significant impact on both worker and production efficiency and quality.

How Force Affects Pushing and Pulling Activities

Pushing and pulling tasks are among the most common industrial activities. Pallets of goods need to be moved from one point to another and equipment needs to be moved to a usage point. Workers at factories, hospitals, distribution centers, grocery stores and many other businesses engage in pushing and pulling activities numerous times a day. The Ergonomics of Manual Material Handling – Pushing and Pulling Tasks provides a useful overview of the costs and consequences of neglecting ergonomics in common industrial tasks that involve pushing and pulling. Click here to read the white paper published by Darcor, an industry leader in the design and manufacture of ergonomic casters and wheels, and Ergoweb, an ergonomic web resource.

While often taken for granted, wheeled carts and equipment are integral to the operation of nearly all manufacturing and distribution facilities as well as many businesses. Musculoskeletal disorders from pushing and pulling injuries cost American businesses billions of dollars each day in medical, insurance, disability and downtime costs. Ergonomically-designed carts, wheels and casters can significantly decrease the incidence of musculoskeletal disorders.

To be effective, ergonomic design for push/pull tasks must consider:

Human factors such as height, weight, age, gender, strength, posture and physiological capacity.
Task factors including distance moved, forces required to initiate and sustain movement, direction and nature of movement and task duration.
Cart/equipment factors such as size, weight, stability, caster/wheel specification and handhold type, height and orientation.
Floor/ground factors including surface characteristics, slope and contaminants.

Contrary to popular belief, horizontal push force is more significant than load weight in pushing and pulling tasks. Proper wheel or caster selection and equipment design can enable workers to move thousands of pounds safely and efficiently. Caster/wheel choice alone can reduce push force significantly. Rolling resistance refers to forces that resist movement and defines the amount of force a person must generate and apply to move wheeled equipment.

This force — called the starting or initial force by ergonomists — is always greatest at the start, just before movement begins. Fortunately, starting force must only be exerted briefly. Once acceleration is achieved, less force — called the sustained or rolling force — is required to maintain movement. The final major force that affects cart movement is turning force which can occur while the cart is in motion or during positioning.

Next time: How ergonomics mitigates force.

The Art of Solving Material Handling Problems

How do you solve material handling problems in your business? Often the people charged with solving a problem on the floor or in the plant have no experience actually performing the tasks that are involved. The biggest hindrance to problem solving in business or industry can be management’s tendency to rely strictly on reports and charts. Sometimes you just have to get your hands dirty.

As they say, there’s no substitute for experience. For instance, say you want to improve order picking productivity. In most operations, pickers spend 60% of their time walking. Obviously, measures that will reduce walking time will increase productivity. On paper transport routes can be planned, inventory placement can be allocated, cart loads can be configured and assembly points can be designated to presumably increase worker efficiency. On paper everything can look great, but on the floor reality can sabotage the best laid plans.

We’re not saying planning isn’t important. Of course it is. But it should be considered a starting point, not an end product. Before final implementation, you should take your plans for a test drive. Give ideology and reality a chance to meet. You’ll usually find that when put into practice paper plans need some serious tweaking to ensure that they achieve the desired results.

In our order picking example, picking items may not actually be located where expected due to warehouse concerns or overstock issues. In the picking area, items may not be optimally located. Picking bins may require workers to reach or stretch unnaturally, risking potential injury and decreasing productivity. Individual productivity can vary greatly between workers, particularly between seasoned and new employees. Picking items may not be transported to pick areas at an optimal rate. Transport surfaces can present their own challenges. Rough or sloped surfaces can decrease efficient transport. Batch sizes may not be optimally configured. Large batches or items may require transport on multiple carts. Reconfiguration to optimize cart loads can increase efficiency and productivity. While these issues may not be obvious on paper, they are obvious in practice and present considerable obstacles to efficiency and productivity.

Next time you work to solve a material handling problem in your business, spend some time walking in the shoes of your workers before you implement a final solution. It’s a sure way to guarantee success.

A Happy Warehouse Staff Is a Productive Staff

Does your staff feel appreciated and valued? A happy staff is truly a productive one, and you can help ensure loyalty and boost motivation with the proper warehouse management tips and procedures.

How can you pep-up productivity and pleasure?

Take the time to train and they’ll be moving in the fast lane. Are your staccato training methods resulting in costly mistakes? Forcing staff into roles before they are ready is a surefire motivation murderer. Don’t throw new employees to the wolves. Invest the time in proper training essentials for the ultimate payoff.
Show your listening – prevent boos and hissing. Answering questions and acting on employee suggestions can not only spotlight and correct recurring issues, but offer a highly effective way of showcasing your team spirit. Your employees are in the thick of it, and may offer creative solutions you may not have considered.
If they pick and pack, make sure they relax. Productivity is essential to the distribution process, and exhausted, burnt out workers are anything but. It may initially seem counter-intuitive, but your pick and pack staff needs relaxation time off of their feet and away from the pressures of filling orders. Give your staff this opportunity. It will reduce pressure and errors as well as refresh them – body and spirit!
Keep ‘em keen by sharing some green. Bonus holidays and cash incentives will ensure a well-oiled warehouse team who happily aims for accuracy targets they know will pay off, double-checking orders and volunteering for overtime.

Looking for warehouse management tips that make a difference? DJ Products has you covered. Learn how to get your product moving today!

Part 5: Why Businesses Fail

At DJ Products we believe in the value of learning from experience — ours, our customers and the business community at large. It’s not necessary to reinvent the wheel. The savvy businessman will learn from the experiences of others and turn that knowledge to his advantage.

With that in mind, we’ve been talking about why businesses fail (see our posts starting July 14). The economy is down, credit is tight and fuel is up. Times are tough and many businesses are struggling to survive. Taking a look at the most common reasons businesses fail may help us all to avoid the same pitfalls.

Continuing our list of why businesses fail:

Unwarranted personal expenses. The news is fully of greedy or sloppy businessmen (and politicians) who now find themselves fired or even jailed for using their business as a personal expense account. Hard-working businessmen deserve to profit from their labors, but they also have a responsibility to set an example of fiscal responsibility for their employees and create a profit for their shareholders. You need to be profitable to earn the perks. Set clear policies for charging expenses to the company that follow IRS guidelines and regulations. Set an example for employees and monitor expenses regularly to curb abuse.
Unplanned expansion. Entrepreneurs eager to capitalize on every opportunity may be tempted to expand quickly. However, unplanned expansion is the quickest way to run out of cash fast. Expanding a business should involve careful, long-term planning. Take sufficient time for market analysis to ensure that expansion is warranted and can continue to be supported by future sales. Develop an implementation schedule and don’t cut corners on the implementation process. Proper implementation is pivotal to the success of an expansion plan. A good plan, poorly implemented, will turn out to be a poor plan.

To be continued

Ergonomic Scissor Lifts You Can Use Safely

In addition to its industrial uses, the scissor lift has been in the news this year for its role in charitable endeavors. In some cities, scissor lifts are being used to store good donated for families in need. And in Washington state, a veteran spent eight days living on a scissor lift “to raise money and awareness for homeless veterans.” His efforts brought in $4,000 and at the end he said was glad to back down on the ground again.

A scissor lift can take people to heights they would not be able to reach on their own. The key is making sure that a person can both be lifted and get back down safely. It is one thing to watch someone being lifted on or using a scissor lift but another thing entirely to be the one entrusting your safety to a manufacturer and your coworkers. We have made many different sizes and shapes of mobile electric lift tables for various applications that, when combined with our PartsCaddy mobile platform truck, eliminate the manual pushing of pulling of these tables with loads on them. And with our mobile electric lift you get 16 hours of continuous use batteries—plenty of battery life to usually last two shifts.

DJ Products offers industrial ergonomic material handling electric carts, including pushers, pullers, and equipment industry that eliminate the strain of manually pulling heavy products, parts carts, or wheeled equipment, or eliminate a bulky, expensive lift truck. You can count on us for:

• Carts with casters
• Carts with 4-swivel casters or wagon-wheel style of turning
• Carts in a straight line
• Platform Trucks & Scissor Lifts