Employee health and safety must be a top concern for companies in the production and packaging industry. Often, repetitive tasks on packaging or production lines can lead to injuries of employees. This, on top of many other possibilities of injury can create a great deal of liability for companies.
One solution to this problem is implementing automated systems into your organization. These systems not only optimize your processes from a production standpoint, but also on the safety side of things.
Automated systems allow employees to take part in far less dangerous, physically straining jobs.
The True Cost of Workplace Injuries
When it comes to workplace injuries, there are two kinds of costs to be considered. There are direct and indirect costs. The direct costs are what we typically think of when it comes to the cost of an injury. These are things such as workers comp and disability insurance after the employee has been injured on the job.
Indirect costs are the other side of the equation. Often, these include costs of training a replacement, the cost of lost time, the cost of investigating the incident, the cost of cleaning up after the accident, and much, much more. These indirect costs are what really wreaks havoc on a company after a workplace accident, especially if it is a small company.
A study done in 2014 showed that workplace incidents that caused employees to miss six or more days of work cost US companies a total of over $50 Billion.
Repetitive Motion Injuries
Repetitive Motion Injuries are especially relevant in the packaging industry. They are often referred to as repetitive stress or repetitive trauma injuries and are one of the most common types of workplace compensation injuries.
These repetitive trauma injuries are common for employees working on packaging lines repeating the same task over and over again.
An example of a repetitive motion injury is the back pain issue caused by lifting 50 lbs. bags or heavy cases of product each day. It can be incredibly painful and is tougher and tougher to deal with as time goes on. Even automating some of your packaging can lead to less wear and tear on your employees.
In the US, the costs associated with these types of injuries are around $20 billion every year. Companies need to recognize the importance of this problem in order to keep their employees healthy and to ultimately save money.
As employees become more aware of the risks of repetitive stress injuries, businesses are becoming more aware as well. More and more organizations are taking steps to prevent these injuries. It is time that your business begins to take these steps as well.
Automated Systems
An incredible first step towards preventing injury in the workplace is taken by implementing automated systems. These systems significantly cut down the number of repetitive tasks that must be performed by employees.
Machines do not get injured, they do not require workers’ compensation. They do not develop back issues, but people do. Employing an automated system in your packaging line not only saves money through increased efficiency and production speed, but it also saves a large amount of money by lowering workers’ compensation costs.
The NOVA Solution
We are experts in the field of optimizing your packaging performance. Reducing the number of repetitive strain injuries significantly is only one of the vast amount of benefits that a NOVA automated system can bring to your business.
Let our machines perform these tasks; and have your employees perform much safer, less mundane work.
