Make Sure Your Ergonomic Changes Last
So, let’s say that you’ve seen the statistics and costs on work-related injuries, and you’ve decided to make some changes to your facility.
We’ve seen a lot of companies push initiatives to improve the working environment of their facilities. This is obviously something that we’re interested in since our products help companies do this.
When someone adopts a new ergonomic initiative, the problem we see is that many workers will abandon aspects of the initiative and fall back into hold habits. This is particularly the case when employees need to adopt a new technique, say, pushing carts in a certain way.
Human nature is just like that most of the time. Try changing your grammar or sitting posture and see how difficult it is when you get into the flow of the day. Old habits die hard.
Because of our interest in injury prevention and ergonomics, we are working in a consortium, headed by The Ohio State University (OSU) Spine Research Institute (SRI).
Recently the Research Institute sent out a list with reasons why safety initiatives fail or succeed. You can see the list below.
The list outlines 3 guidelines in which an initiative can be successful or not. They are usability, usefulness, and desirability.
Now, we sell casters. There is no reason for us to try and hide this fact.
Just like a snow blower helps people remove snow from their driveways, our casters help people in a certain way.
One major way our casters really aid our clients is to help them keep initiatives in ergonomics.
This list from The OSU SRI lays out just exactly why our casters are so successful at doing this.
BUY SOMETHING PEOPLE ACTUALLY USE
First, casters are usable. This means that they are “easy and intuitive.” Your employees or coworkers will have to push and pull carts either way.
There is no new training that you must enact when you add new casters. You simply attach the new casters and allow these hard workers to do what they have always done.
Now, there are definitely ways in which you can improve the testing of your carts and their ergonomic thresholds, but when the casters are on, using them is like falling off a log.
Because casters are such a practical piece of equipment, your employees will be more productive and actually avoid injury, which is a major reason why you started the initiative to begin with.
The desired result is safe employees and less downtime. You are actually buying something that is the best of both worlds.
SOLVE AN EXISTING PROBLEM
Second, our casters are extremely useful. They “solve an existing problem” without a shadow of a doubt. If they don’t, they are essentially worthless.
That’s why we do measurements before and after to improve ergonomics verifiably.
The assessment of the original problem requires skill to get right—that’s why we rely on over 32 years of experience—but the results are not a guessing game. The problem is solved!
You and your employees will have a cart that moves much better than the old cart.
If we have to send in multiple types of casters, we will do that before you make a larger purchase. Our casters are at their core completely useful.
NOTICE A REAL DIFFERENCE
Third, do the people actually using these casters even care or notice a difference?
In other words, do they want more of these products because they can actually see the difference in their every-day lives?
This again is where the proof is in the pudding.
In the video below, you can see how employees have noticed a huge difference in their productivity, but more importantly to us, in their overall health and well-being.
FRANKLY, CASTERS ARE A SURE THING
Companies invest millions of dollars with us each year to improve their ergonomic issues. In every case, the casters they use help them and their company stick to their new ergonomics initiatives.
Unlike with something like advertising, where you can’t guarantee the desired outcome, an investment in casters is a sure thing.
So, there is no reason to worry about ROI. The numbers before and after guarantee this and allow you to justify the purchase to upper management.
In fact, to assure that we can measure as accurately as possible on push/pull, we’ve undertaken the project with The OSU SRI mentioned above.
This will allow us, and virtually anyone, to measure testing results before and after as accurately as possible.
This new testing will help us improve on ergonomic initiatives and demonstrate the value of an investment in casters that help our clients keep these ergonomic initiatives.
But, at the end of the day, what really tells the tale is how well real people feel day after day, doing their real jobs.