Massage and Wearable technology for a more secure workplace

Wearable technology – The health and safety of its workers is a top priority for CNH Industrial and its brands in the agricultural and construction equipment industries. However, stresses from lifting, tugging, and repeated motions on plant manufacturing lines can still happen with physical employment. 
 
The company’s North American health and safety teams have therefore made investments in a number of ergonomic advancements in an effort to reduce and treat such injuries. The cost of work-related long-term strain occurrences is down 34% from the prior year thanks to a variety of remedies implemented at many sites, including new wearable devices and deep-tissue massage.

Wearable technology is being used by the health and safety team at the New Holland facility in Saskatoon to collect ergonomic data from workers. The project’s two objectives are to raise self-awareness of potentially dangerous motions and to accurately identify the locations where movements are most likely to result in strains so that appropriate corrective action can be taken. 
 
According to Zoey Bourgeois, the site’s health and safety specialist, “people clip the little device onto the back of their shirts and throughout the day it detects the movement of their spine.” They feel a vibration on the back of their necks if they move awkwardly or with tension. It increases people’s awareness of bad ergonomic posture. 
 
Over the course of 10 days, employees wear the gadget, and the data it generates is displayed in real time on a dashboard of indicators that the health and safety team can see.

Wearable technology

One of the welders discovered that the equipment was vibrating every time he completed a particular task, according to Zoey. He decided to sit down and complete the task because the vibration was starting to irritate him rather than standing. The team as a whole was then encouraged to do that weld using a step tool. 
 
The project is scheduled to last through January 2023 and began at the end of 2021. 
 
Exoskeleton suits are being worn by logistics department workers at the New Holland, Pennsylvania, facility by the safety team to lessen the strain on their backs when they are lifting and unloading boxes of parts. 
 
According to Eden Blevins, a safety specialist at the facility, “it may relieve up to 75 pounds of weight off your spine while you’re bending and lifting. It’s like having a second spine.” 
 
The discrete suits, which include two tension back straps and a chest piece, are customized for each wearer. According to the experts, three of the back strains that occurred last year when workers were carrying heavy objects could have been avoided if the suits had been used. At the Racine facility of CNH Industrial, the same suits are in use.

Active release technique

Active release technique (ART) therapy, a form of deep-tissue massage that is particularly helpful on recurrent strains, is another benefit provided to staff at the New Holland location. 
 
If the first modifications Julie Mayer advises at the Grand Island (Nebraska) facility are unsuccessful, she will recommend affected employees for ART. The ART practitioner then accepts appointments from the staff and schedules weekly visits to the facility. 
 
According to Mayer, “employees absolutely adore it — I frequently have a waiting list,” they are usually significantly better after three sessions and don’t need to be seen again.