For almost 35 years, the poultry industry has been at the forefront of efforts to reduce musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in the workplace.
Wearables could be one way to reduce the number of MSDs in the poultry industry, explained Dr. Jason Guss, the CEO at Iterate Labs, during a session on ergonomics at the 2020 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE), in Atlanta, Georgia.
“When data is collected continuously on a worker, we develop a system that is proactive in nature and may even be able to predict an injury before it occurs,” he explained.
Ergonomics can be defined as a working environment, where an employee can perform his or her function comfortably and efficiently, with the least amount of fatigue. Injuries due to improper ergonomics have direct costs of $15 billion each year, according to Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) estimates.
This kind of technology has become popular in recent years due to the popularity of the FitBit and the Apple Watch. In the workplace, wearables could be used for continuous monitoring and even to predict ergonomic and fatigue-related concerns.
On a farm, worker ergonomics could be monitored through the use of an industrial wearable attached to gloves that offer real-time connectivity.
Verifying training processes
Guss was particularly excited about how wearables might be used to verify training processes in the workplace.
“You can use these platforms for optimizing the workplace to that individual's work at their workstation, we can understand their biomechanics and how they sit with this position, how the tools that they use and how they interact with their environment,” he said.
If all employees are wearing a monitoring device, managers can easily see if training processes are being followed. If the results show that a few employees are not following the ergonomic protocol, you will know that those few may need a refresher course.
If, however, none of the employees follow proper ergonomic protocol, then managers will know that they need to rethink their whole training program.
Like what you just read? Sign up now for free to receive the Poultry Future Newsletter.
