Body Stressing Injury Risk Assessment Using Wearable Technology and Data Analysis in Transport and Logistics
Outcome: 39% improvement in load score, reducing from 10 to 6.1
The transport and logistics industry has a high rate of avoidable body-stressing injuries, with 29% of the total number of body-stressing injuries that occurred in the U.S. in 2019. The industry also has the highest rate of slip, trip, and fall injuries, with 35% of total slip, trip, and fall injuries in the U.S. in 2019. The median recovery time for injured transport and logistics workers is 8.2 weeks, having a significant impact on productivity and increasing costs.
In 2021, a trial program was conducted to assess how wearable technology, smartphone app, and data analytics platform could assist in assessing and reducing avoidable body stressing injury risks.
Trial Objective
Use wearable technology and data analysis to understand the physical demands of various workers in the transport and logistics industry and identify opportunities to reduce injury risks.
Method
Measure the movements of a selected group over five weeks using work task assessments and movement coaching. In this study, 152 reports were recorded among 12 workers and across 3 locations.
Results
High-risk workers have an elevated injury risk that was four times higher than the group average. Modifying the tasks by changing the position and technique used by drivers enabled them to keep their elbows closer to their bodies and reduced the load score from 10 to 6.1, an improvement of 39%.
Download this PDF to read through the full study.Download this PDF to read through the full study.