Poorly designed workstations and task habits can result in serious health and injury problems for your employees. Back injuries, followed by neck and shoulder injuries are the most commonly experienced injuries in material handling settings. Proper ergonomic equipment design and tasking protocols can prevent potential injury.
Ergonomics is the science of fitting the task to the worker, instead of the other way around. Musculoskeletal injuries can result when workers have to pull, push, lift or stretch in the performance of their tasks. Assessing your ergonomic needs can be as simple as having a conversation with your employees.
Begin by closely examining the workplace and tasks. Review error and accident reports to identify potential problems. Observe how employees actually perform their tasks. Talk to the people who actually do the work. They have the best insights into what is and isn’t working effectively. Ask the following questions:
- Are you in a comfortable position throughout the performance of your job tasks?
- Do you experience discomfort, aches, pain, fatigue or stress? At what point in your tasks? Specifically what are you doing when you experience discomfort?
- Is the equipment appropriate, easy to use and well maintained?
- Are you satisfied with your workspace and tasks?
- Are there frequent errors? What are you doing when these occur?
- Do you have any suggestions for improving your workspace or tasks?
Analyze the responses you receive. Small solutions such as repositioning of task elements can often make a significant difference in worker comfort. Even when large-scale solutions are required, such as equipment purchase, the cost will be quickly defrayed in decreased medical, insurance, workers’ compensation, disability and lost man-hour costs.
On our website, DJ Products provides a useful Ergonomic Load Calculator you can use to help determine your ergonomic equipment needs. Our expert staff can recommend ergonomic product solutions for your most difficult material handling tasks. Visit the DJ Products website to view our complete line of electric and battery-powered ergonomic carts and tugs.