Workplace Safety Consultation -- industry best-practices

Minnesota OSHA Workplace Safety Consultation (WSC) is working to showcase ergonomics best-practices of employers throughout the state. The following pages show examples of inventive ways employers and and employees are working to reduce the risks of musculoskeletal injuries in the workplace.

Currently, there is no specific Minnesota or federal ergonomics regulation; however, employers have an obligation to correct recognized ergonomics hazards causing or likely to cause injury to employees. The best-practices ideas featured here can help other facilities accomplish this obligation by providing examples from other worksites, which may also help generate ideas for reducing risk-factors in other work tasks.

Best-practices:  health care industry

Ceiling-mounted lift system reduces common staff-injuries when lifting and moving residents

Modified door thresholds allow easy, direct access to adjoining rooms

Resident ambulation made easier, safer for residents and staff members

Full-assist mechanical lifts reduce injuries when lifting, moving nursing-home residents

Alternative mopping system reduces ergonomic risk-factors

Best-practices:  manufacturing industry

Adjustable-height worktables used in computer assembly

Motorized cart used to transport computer mainframe up a ramped floor

Lift platform for loading mainframes onto a conveyor

Automatic pallet-wrapping machine improves efficiency

Roller table reduces the injury risk

Conveyor system eliminates the need for manual material-handling

Scissor-lift tables bring the work to a suitable work height

Height-adjustable rollers position raw material for edge profiling (PDF)

Roller tables maneuver sections of raw material for fabricating (PDF)

Submit your company's ergonomics best-practices ideas

WSC welcomes submission of best-practices ideas for inclusion on these pages. Please provide as much of the following information as possible, with photographs that illustrate the idea (before and after, if possible):

• type of industry;
• general description of the work task and work area;
• description of the task requirements prior to the change;
• body part(s) most affected;
• description of the ergonomic best-practice intervention;
• description of the task requirements after the change;
• risk-factors eliminated;
• employee testimonials;
• injury-reduction data; and
• return-on-investment data.

For more information, contact Workplace Safety Consultation at (651) 284-5060 or osha.consultation@state.mn.us.

Links to more information

More information

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)     -- Ergonomics possible solutions

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)     -- Lifting     -- Ergonomics and musculoskeletal disorders

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work     -- Musculoskeletal disorders

Department of Veterans Affairs     -- VISN 8 Patient Safety Center of Inquiry, Tampa

Disclaimer:  Photographs of commercially available products posted on this site are for reference purposes only and do not imply any endorsement by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. The best-practices ideas have been reviewed and posted solely at the discretion of the department and should only be considered as possible examples for reducing risk-factors, based on existing ergonomics guidelines. Employers and employees need to work together to identify and control ergonomics risk-factors within the workplace to better ensure changes made to a work process will be effective in reducing risk-factors and maintaining work efficiency.