TOLEDO, OHIO - Overexertion injuries cause more than nagging neck and back pain. They also cause financial hardship for small businesses across the United States. According to the Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index, these injuries are costing American companies around $15 billion a year in medical fees and indemnity payouts. Ergonomics experts point out that indirect costs, like lost wages, lost productivity and training, can increase that number by four to five times.

Without the budget to bring in a professional ergonomist to identify and correct high-risk areas in material handling, small businesses are left with minimal options to identify and reduce the risk of overexertion injuries. Often, it falls on the human resources director to conduct research and provide the training that will educate employees on safe material handling practices.

Jim Galante, chairman of the EASE Council and director of business development at Southworth Products, gives hope to small businesses who are struggling to provide a safe workplace for their employees. “There are some tools out there to help the small guy,” says Galante. To prove it, he has collected a list of his favorite, cost effective solutions that that will help small companies reduce the risk of material handling injuries.

Calculations for safe lifting
To start, Galante recommends taking advantage of Oregon OSHA’s interactive Lifting Calculator app. This app was created to calculate maximum safe lifting weights for a variety of lifting scenarios. The app can be found at osha.oregon.gov.

For pushing and pulling calculations, Galante recommends the Liberty Mutual Manual Material Handling Table.

Cost-effective solutions
More often than not, these calculations will show that the company has material weight, repetitions and/or height requirements that exceed the recommended amounts. With a better understanding of the risks, and the cost that accompanies an injury, small businesses will have direction on where they need to invest in cost-effective, ergonomic equipment.
• Pallet Lifter – can automatically adjust pallet height to prevent overextension injuries. They can also rotate to keep the worker from having to reach.
• Lift Tables – can be inserted into the floor to put tall pallets at an optimal handling height.
• Container Tilters – keep workers from having to reach too far into containers.
• Work Access Platforms – raise the worker to the correct height on large work pieces.

Taylor Material Handling and Conveyor, located in Toledo, Ohio, offers these ergonomic solutions from Southworth’s complete product line. For more information on how Taylor Material Handling and Conveyor can help companies large and small create a safer workplace, contact us today at [email protected] call 419.867.3560 or visit: http://taylormhc.com