Innovative service eases the strain of overexertion injuries

Handling materials and objects is part of the job for countless workers, from manufacturing to construction to wholesale. Too often, handling objects comes at a steep price, costing employers nearly $13B a year from overexertion injuries. The Liberty Mutual ErgoValuator™, a new service from Liberty Mutual, tackles this critical issue by helping employers pinpoint overexertion risk, protecting workers, and ultimately stemming the flow of costly workers compensation claims.

Eliminating common complications

However big or small a business, frequent overexertion injuries have serious consequences. They drag down productivity, lower morale, and push costs ever higher. However, as widespread as the issue is, many businesses struggle to manage it. The three commonly used approaches have their flaws:

• Systematic approaches suck up valuable time. It’s rarely easy to quickly isolate and redesign offending tasks, and then repeat them until injuries are halted. Only large companies have the resources to dedicate to this process.
• Exercises and devices aren’t enough. Though easier to implement, stretching/warm up routines and supportive belts and braces have limited effectiveness. Beyond that, exercise routines take time away from production. And supportive gear can distract workers from the task at hand.
• Lifting technique training doesn’t help. It’s a myth that training “safe lifting” alters the way people lift.  The traditional rules for lifting (e.g., straight back, bend knees) is rarely the least stressful and may even increase the risk of injury.

Easy intervention, quick feedback

With Liberty Mutual ErgoValuator™, our risk control service can cut through traditional challenges and quickly provide targeted information businesses can implement right away—all via video footage shot with any smartphone. After a video is uploaded to our new app, computer vision and artificial intelligence algorithms (developed by Kinetica Labs, Inc.), combined with 40+ years of extensive workplace safety data researched by Liberty Mutual, produce a risk analysis that our risk control consultants can interpret for you. In minutes, customers have a detailed report with the feedback needed to help remedy the overexertion situation. For more complicated situations, we can also provide phone consultation to walk through findings and discuss possible solutions.

Big wins for businesses

Customers who have used Liberty Mutual ErgoValuator™ have found several benefits:

• Findings are based on factual data and scientific evidence, and reviewed by experienced risk control experts
• Analysis focuses on root of problem to solve underlying safety issues
• Analysis doesn’t interrupt work or productivity and requires minimal involvement from workers
• Results are available in a matter of minutes, not days or weeks
• Remote analysis requires no site visit, particularly advantageous during pandemic conditions
• Addresses individual and system-wide safety issues
• The app allows predicting injury risk reduction rates through “what if” alternative task designs
• Provides visualization of risky postures during handling

More control when businesses need it most

COVID-19 is forcing changes in our workplaces – changes that disrupt procedures, heightening risk still further. These shifts include:

• Physical distancing requirements
• Fluctuations in number of employees on the job or in each workspace
• Operational changes

These factors make solutions that control and limit workplace injury – like our new overexertion remediation service – even more important and valuable. We look forward to taking that significant step toward protecting workers and containing the threat of overexertion injuries in workplaces, to help businesses focus on what they do best.

To learn more about this promising service, contact your Liberty Mutual Service Director.

Our risk control services are advisory only. We assume no responsibility for: managing or controlling customer safety activities, implementing any recommended corrective measures, or identifying all potential hazards. No attempt has been made to interpret any referenced codes, standards, or regulations. Please refer to the appropriate government authority for interpretation or clarification.