by Brianna Crandall — January 14, 2015—A new publication from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) focuses on ergonomic solutions to help workers in the wholesale and retail industry prevent injuries during material handling activities, thereby avoiding pain and impairment for workers, as well as workers’ compensation costs for management.
The publication particularly highlights mechanical assist devices that can help workers in grocery stores reduce strains and sprains when moving materials from the delivery truck to the sales floor, but the technology presented in an easy-to-read format can also be adapted to other scenarios, including for those working in warehouse and storage facilities. It may also support a retailer’s growing Internet sales that depend on moving large quantities of merchandise, often with fewer employees.
Although musculoskeletal injuries result in time away from work across all industry sectors, data shows that they affect workers in the wholesale and retail trade at a higher rate. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, overexertion injuries accounted for approximately 30 percent of occupational injuries that resulted in time away from work. Additionally, laborers and freight, stock, and material movers experience the highest number of overexertion injuries. These injuries often involve strains and sprains to the lower back, shoulders, and upper limbs.
NIOSH points out that nearly 2.5 million cashiers and stocking clerks are at risk for musculoskeletal injuries that stem from overexertion in grocery stores. According to Liberty Mutual Research Institute, overexertion is the leading cause of workplace injuries and accounts for $14.2 billion in direct costs. In the grocery sector, overexertion injuries that lead to soft tissue injuries, or musculoskeletal disorders, account for 41 percent of the injuries and lost work in grocery stores.
One way to prevent these injuries is by using mechanical assist devices such as powered pallet movers, height-adjusted conveyors, and powered adjustable handcarts. For each task, there are multiple mechanical assist devices that can be used. These devices help prevent injury and can help reduce the impact of aging, allowing older workers to stay on their jobs even with physical limitations, notes NIOSH.
The new document designed for retail workers and safety experts, Ergonomic Solutions for Retailers: Prevention of Material Handling Injuries in the Grocery Sector, uses a series of illustrations to show how and where employees in a retail setting, such as a grocery store, would use mechanical assist devices to lift, push or pull heavy materials in a safe and productive manner.
This publication was inspired by a NIOSH/CalOSHA booklet, Ergonomic Guidelines for Manual Material Handling, produced when stakeholders in the wholesale and retail trade sector recognized the need for informational materials showing interventions in work settings that were familiar to employers and employees.
Ergonomic Solutions for Retailers: Prevention of Material Handling Injuries in the Grocery Sector was designed to show employers the types of mechanical assist devices that help prevent injuries, and to show workers how to use the devices. The booklet does not address costs of investing in these devices. In an article in Progressive Grocer, “Computing Cost-effective Solutions for the Supermarket,” NIOSH’s Vern Putz Anderson, PhD, CPE, presents a quick five-step guide to identify the factors that will help evaluate cost and benefit, and to arrive at cost-effective solutions.
