Vern Anderson, Ph.D., Coordinator Retail Trades Occupational Health CDC/NIOSH Mike Leiner

Vern Anderson, Ph.D., Coordinator Retail Trades

Occupational Health CDC/NIOSH

Mike Leiner

Manager Store SafetyTarget Corporation

Successful Applications of Ergonomic Principles to

Loss Prevention

Two Acknowledgments for Leadership in Safety

• 1. RILA recently signed a “Letter of Agreement” with the “Centers for Disease Control & Prevention” (CDC) and its Occupational Safety and Health Program CDC/NIOSH).

• 2. The Loss Prevention Foundation (LPF), known for its Certification and Training for Loss Prevention also signed a “Letter of Agreement” with (CDC/NIOSH).

• The purpose of both of these Letters of Agreement was to acknowledge the importance of workplace safety and to provide information on safety and health to their membership. In addition, the resources of CDC/NIOSH are committed to these same goals.

• Ergonomic is good business!

Take Away Message

• Correlates with business success• Adds value- provides competitive edge

– Quality, efficiency, profitability– Controls costs (direct and indirect)

It’s the right thing to do• Protection of our most valuable resource: employees!

But, we can do more to protect our employees/customers.

Purpose of our Presentations

.

We will show through examples how applying ergonomic principles can:

- improve productivity

- reduce loss of property

- reduce loss of work time

from preventable accidents

• What you may not know about ergonomics.• Why be concerned about MMH injuries? • Examples of Good Work Practices • Example of Ergonomic Solutions • Costs and Loss Prevention Goals• Matching Solutions to Problems

Presentation Outline

• Safety Activities: Phases (IAS)– Investigate –collect information – Analyze- assess and plan– Solve- develop solutions:

• Training: Takes time, re-training needed• Administrative: Management decisions• Engineering: i.e., Ergonomic solutions

Safety and Ergonomics

Ergonomic Solutions

???

.

Ergonomics is an engineering science to improve work efficiency

Ergonomics is about prevention through design.

What you may not know about ergonomics.

Ergonomics is about adapting work to fit your workforce: big or small*

Ergonomics is about how workers do their job and use tools (Logistics)

What you may not know about ergonomics

• Put aside the notion that workplace ergonomics is only about injuries

• Ergonomics makes good business sense:

• Healthy people work better

• Sick people perform poorly

Ergonomics : Some Facts

Why Address

Manual Material Handling?

Some Facts to Consider: (Retail/Wholesale)

• Affects 8-10% of workers yearly

• Accounts for 21-36% of workplace injuries

• Responsible for 33% -60% of workplace injuries costs

Because Lifting Injuries are important

They represent the biggest single contributor to worker injury in the United States

In short: Lifting Related Injuries

...and the application of good ergonomic design and good work practices can substantially reduce those incidences.

Problem: Stocking shelves or a gymnast

We can do better

Another Tough Lift: Unloading Boxes

We can do better

Problem: All to Common

We can do better

Training Administrative Ergonomics

What are our Solutions?

Manual Materials Handling JobsVarious Solutions:

Good Work Practices “Soft Ergonomics”

Engineering Changes “Hard Ergonomics”

Training and Administrative

Employees capabilities and Job DemandsGood Work Practices

Training and Administrative

Good Work Practice

Training and Administrative

Good Work Practices

Ergonomic Study Examples

More Ergonomic Study Example

Ergonomic Study ExampleHeight Adjusted Pallet Jack

Used a Height Adjustable Pallet Jack to elevate low boxes on pallet (bottom 1/3) to waist level when stocking on store floor, thereby reducing back bending & compressive forces on spine when cutting boxes open and lifting from pallets.

BEFORE AFTER

Okay, so not everybody gets excited about ergonomics

Tested a spring-loaded customized self-leveling cart to reduce the bending and stooping required to load/unload flat-bed carts and the forces on the back /spine

Ergonomic Study ExampleSelf-Leveling Cart Deli/Bakery

Ergonomic Study Example: Results

BEFORE AFTER

• Strong positive usability feedback and highly recommended (2 associates)

• Back, Shoulder, & Knee discomfort ↓dropped ≥ 30% (2 associates)

• Productivity ↑increased 1.9% (delivery time) = 5.3 min. savings/day

Spring Self leveling cart : Deli/Bakery

Ergonomic Results Example: Deli Bakery

BEFORE AFTER

• Also Positive usability feedback and recommended (1 associate)

• Reported Low Back discomfort ↓ 29% (1 associate)

• Productivity ↑ 9.2% (transport time) = 6.2 min. savings/day (1 associate)

Tested Battery powered adjustable cart to reduce carrying & Lifting

Findings from Ergonomic Studies

• Adjustable carts allowed products to be placed at waist level– Reduced -bending down to floor level – More workers were able to do this job – Did not affect productivity

• Workers liked the cart– Reported less back fatigue – Easy to use - felt to be more productive– Liked cart maneuverability

• Sprains/strains–muscles, ligaments, tendons

• Chronic pain affecting joints

• Disc injuries of the back or neck

• Compression of peripheral nerves

• Soft tissues disorders bruises

• Compression of blood circulation

Injuries from Manual Lifting Tasks

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What you don’t want.

• Median number of lost work days – 5 days for all workers with any injury– 25 days for workers with MSDs

• Average cost per injury– $1,100 for all other cases– $10,800 for an MSD

• MSDs tend to have – Longer durations – Longer treatment time– Greater work disability

Musculoskeletal Disorders

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Accident Costs

1% Profit

2% Profit

3% Profit

$ 1,000 $ 100,000 $ 50,000 $ 33,000

$ 5,000 500,000 250,000 167,000

$ 10,000 1,000,000 500,000 333,000

$ 25,000 2,500,000 1,250,000 833,000

$100,000 10,000,000 5,000,000 3,333,000

SALES TO COVER COSTS*

It is necessary to sell an additional $250,000 in products or services to pay the cost of $5,000 annual losses

*

$ 5,000 $250,000

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Elimination Prevention Control LOSS

TARGET:

Reduce Injury/illness frequency

Use Ergonomics to focus oncontrolling

what precedesthe loss

Loss Prevention is Goal #1

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MedicalMgmt

ClaimsMgmt.

PolicyStructure/Funding

LOSS

TARGET:

Reduce Injury/illness

severity

Use Administrative resources for

controlling whatfollows the loss

Loss Reduction is Goal #2

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Elimination Prevention ControlMedicalMgmt

ClaimsMgmt.

PolicyStructure/Funding

LOSS

Reduce Injury/illness severity with

AdministrativeResources

Reduce Injury/illness

frequencyWith

Ergonomics

Effective Program: Goal Integration

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Use ALL Your Metrics

Elimination Prevention Control MedicalClaimsMgmt. FundingLOSS

LOSS REDUCTION

Past Loss measures of INCIDENCE /

CAUSETCIR, DART

WC Case Rate MSD Case Rate

Past Loss measures of SEVERITY/ COST

• Experience Modification rating• # Days away from work• Cost per man-hour• % cost due to cases > $20K• Reporting Delay

Loss Prevention

A New Research Initiative

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CDC Campaign to Assist Businesses Maintain A Healthy Workforce in the Retail/Wholesale Trades

Focus on Manual Materials Handling: “We can and need to do better!”

NIOSH/UC Sponsored Purpose:

Manual Materials Handling Workshop

“Matching Solutions to Problems”

October 11-12, 2011

Hyatt Regency, Cincinnati, Ohio

Participants:

Practitioners/researchers

Industry/safety/loss prevention representatives

Manufacturers/vendors of MMH equipment

Contact: Vern Putz Anderson, NIOSH

[email protected], 513-533-8319

Purpose: Develop engineering solutions for high risk

manual materials handling (MMH) jobs in Retail, Wholesale, and Warehousing (RWW) Industries

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Questions??

Next up:

Mike Leiner

Manager Store Safety:

Target Corporation

Ergonomics Designing Jobs to Fit Your Workforce

Person’sCapacities The Task

Load

Effort

Energy

The task demands exceed the person’s (workforce) capacities

Risk of overexertion injuries Turnover

Ergonomics Designing Jobs to Fit Your Workforce

Fulcrum

Person’s

Capacity

Load

The Task

Loss productivity - workers not challengedBoredom Turnover

Ergonomics: Achieving Balance

Fulcrum

Optimal work conditions Optimal Productivity Low Risk

Effort

EnergyLoad

Person’s Capacity

The Task

Balancing Capacity with the Task

Employees capabilities and Job DemandsPeople and Work Tasks

Good Work Practices

Identifying Risk Factors

Achieving Balance

Good Work Practices

Good Work Practices

Introducing Equipment to Maintain Balance

Balancing Capacity with Productivity

Questions??