Bodytrak Unveils Innovative Feature to Combat Musculoskeletal Disorders in the Workplace
September 26, 2024 – Bodytrak®, a leader in smart safety solutions, proudly announces the launch of its latest feature designed to prevent musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in the workplace. The new Lifting Strain Index™ is a game-changing tool that offers real-time monitoring, alerts, and longer term trends, enabling early intervention to help reduce the risk of MSDs, ensuring the safety and wellbeing of workers in physically demanding environments.
MSDs are more than a minor inconvenience. Imagine enduring persistent pain every time you lift a box, stretch to reach a shelf, or simply bend to tie your shoes. These are symptoms of injuries that affect muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, and bones. According to reports from the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 1.71 billion people around the world have MSDs, of which 50–70% are workers in various occupations. These injuries, often caused by repetitive motions, awkward postures, and heavy lifting, can lead to pain, discomfort, and reduced mobility. MSDs are a major concern in workplaces that involve physically demanding tasks, contributing significantly to lost workdays and decreased productivity.
Introducing the Lifting Strain Index™
The Lifting Strain Index™, a new feature of the Bodytrak smart safety solution, is specifically designed to prevent MSDs. This advanced index indicates the risk of developing MSDs by evaluating the physical strain associated with specific tasks. The index is presented on a scale from 0 to 10, where a higher number indicates a greater risk of injury. The cumulative score accumulates throughout an employee’s shift, particularly if repetitive bad lifting techniques are used, allowing for timely intervention before serious injury occurs.
How it works
The solution from Bodytrak integrates wearable technology that continuously captures an individual’s physiological responses in real-time. The solution uniquely consists of two components (Earpiece and CommPack) worn on different locations of the body – the head and hip – to obtain comprehensive data on movement patterns. This multi-point data collection enables a more accurate analysis of the strain placed on the body, which is crucial for preventing MSDs that can affect multiple areas of the body simultaneously.
Benefits for organisations and employees
While MSDs affect individuals, there are also many implications to organisations including loss of productivity, injury claims and absenteeism. The Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance (ARMA) highlighted research by Loughborough University that found MSDs cost construction employers £646m a year in the UK alone. The new feature from Bodytrak helps prevent musculoskeletal injuries and eliminate any financial burdens on organisations.
Employers can benefit from Bodytrak’s real-time alerts, which notify supervisors through a dashboard, email, text, or WhatsApp when an employee is at risk. This immediate feedback allows for rapid intervention to prevent injuries. Additionally, users receive audio prompts and visual displays on the Bodytrak device, alerting them to any potentially harmful lifting techniques.
Automated reporting features also provide insights and trends that can inform better training programs and improve material handling policies, ultimately enhancing workplace safety.
This new feature further solidifies Bodytrak as one of the world’s most comprehensive safety solutions, offering a multi-faceted approach that includes MSD prevention, heat stress management, fatigue monitoring, noise-induced hearing loss prevention, location positioning and geofencing, and fall detection, among other features. With an ATEX and IECEx compliant model also available, this ensures people working in some of the most hazardous and challenging environments can be assured that their safety is prioritised and they can return home free of preventable injuries after each shift.
Speak to the team to arrange a complimentary demo today.
About Bodytrak
Bodytrak® provides the world’s most comprehensive smart safety solutions that reduce workplace risks, prevent incidents and enhance productivity through actionable data. With the ability to provide individualised monitoring, precise data is captured through our wearable devices to prevent workplace incidents related to heat stress, fatigue, musculoskeletal injuries and noise exposure. Bodytrak’s mission is to disrupt health and safety in the workplace by working with customers, regulators and the insurance industry to define new standards and reduce the number of incidents and fatalities across the globe.
For more information, please visit https://bodytrak.co/ or follow Bodytrak on LinkedIn or X
