In 2022, the National Safety Council (NSC) created the MSD Pledge. The pledge is a global employer-led movement to reduce musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) risk and injuries by 25% by 2025.
One of the first companies to sign this was Schneider Electric. In a recent article on NSC, Kathleen Spanjer, the company's North American ergonomics subject matter expert and safety support, global supply chain, said the company's goal over the next three years is to cut their medical incident rate of MSDs in half. The reason for this focus, notes Spanjer, is that while the company's number of lacerations, fractures and electrical events have gone down, MSDs, have unfortunately risen.
Discussing how they will achieve this goal, Spanjer explains that one of the core tenets of the pledge is to share learnings that improve safety practices. Heare are a couple of these best practices.
(The following is an excerpt from the article.)
Involving the workforce is the foundation of building a safer workplace. Whether it’s employees working on the facility floor or directors in the office, it’s critical to speak with people at all levels of an organization about their safety experiences. Encourage them to speak up and listen closely to any concerns or potential changes they believe can have a positive impact. At Schneider Electric, this starts on a worker’s first day at new employee orientations, where we promote early reporting and saying something if they see something. We also have safety and ergonomics committees at our facilities, which include a range of employees at different levels. We rely on them to bring ideas and solutions based on their work firsthand or observing colleagues. For example, when a new line was introduced in the Lincoln facility, the committee shared some ideas about how to eliminate bending and twisting by simply adding a lift cart, which helped resolve many of these issues. The bottom line is, empowering employees to share their opinions freely without fear of retribution leads to greater collaboration and accountability by everyone, and ultimately contributes to a safer work environment.
Focus on being proactive and not reactive. Three decades ago, when our safety program was still in its infancy, our approach to safety was more reactive and centered on making improvements after someone got hurt. Since that time, we’ve evolved vastly and are looking to stay ahead of any issues. We do this in several ways, including training on proper body mechanics, developing a safety database that helps us gather all safety-related information and monitor if there are any trends to reduce accident rates, and constantly exploring different technology to prevent injuries, whether it’s tools like wearables or exoskeletons.
Not all safety initiatives require a major investment. While we’re fortunate at Schneider Electric to have the resources to implement leading-edge technology, like AVGs and robotics, in addition to offering physical, trigger point and massage therapists on site for employees, not all safety initiatives require a large investment. In fact, some of our most impactful safety efforts don’t require any additional budget, including soliciting input from employees on job design, stretching at the beginning of a shift and throughout the day, establishing job rotations so no one is in the same position all day, and instituting a 26-pound weight-lift limit to minimize strain.
Read the full article.