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Preventing Ergonomic Injuries in Warehouse and Delivery Operations

injuries in warehouses
  • Published
  • 24 October 2024
  • Category
  • General

In anticipation of the holiday shopping season, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report that prods the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to do more to prevent ergonomic-related injuries in warehouses and short-distance delivery operations.

Preventable work-related sprains, strains and other types of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are common occurrences in these settings. Contributing factors may include overexertion, force, repetition and awkward or static postures. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, e-commerce warehouses and last-mile delivery operations had the highest serious-injury and illness rate among 19 transportation and warehousing sectors in 2022, with an estimated 3.8 cases per 100 workers.

OSHA developed an ergonomics standard that was signed into law in 2000 during the Clinton administration. However, the law was rescinded in 2001 by the Bush administration in response to opposition from business groups, lawsuits, and enforcement-related complexities. In the absence of a specific standard, OSHA cites employers for ergonomic-related exposure hazards under the general duty clause of the 1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act.

In its report on Why OSHA Should Take Steps to Better Identify and Address Ergonomic Hazards at Warehouses and Delivery Companies, the GAO notes that warehouse and last-mile delivery employers received more than 2,500 OSHA citations between fiscal years 2018 to 2023. Of those, only 11 identified specific ergonomic hazards. This suggests that validating connections between work-related ergonomic factors and the occurrence of MSDs in a workplace remains a challenge.

National Emphasis Program

OSHA launched a three-year National Emphasis Program on Warehousing and Distribution Center Operations in July 2023 to help address rising incident and injury rates in the rapidly expanding e-commerce marketplace. In addition to ergonomics, the program focuses on the operation of powered industrial vehicles, material handling and storage activities, walking-working surface and egress safety, fire protection, and work in hot environments. Employee exposures to ergonomic hazards must be assessed during:

  • Review of an employer’s injury and illness logs
  • Employee interviews
  • Workplace walkthroughs

When ergonomic and/or heat exposures are identified, the scope of an OSHA inspection must be expanded to include potential employee health impacts.

Recommendations

In its report, the GAO says OSHA “can do more.” It makes five recommendations to the U.S. Department of Labor, which oversees OSHA:

  1. Ensure that OSHA compliance officers can easily obtain musculoskeletal disorder occurrence dates during inspections, potentially by adding a new column to recordkeeping forms.
  2. Make OSHA inspectors’ training on workplace ergonomic exposure hazards more robust.
  3. Direct the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health to review and make needed changes to internal and publicly available guidance that compliance officers and employers use to identify, assess, and address ergonomic hazards. This may include clarifying and updating industry-specific guidance.
  4. Direct OSHA to conduct timely follow-ups with establishments that receive post-inspection ergonomic hazard-alert letters to evaluate the extent of corrective actions that have been taken.
  5. Direct OSHA to evaluate the effectiveness of its national emphasis program and document next steps to correct any deficiencies that may be identified.

How WorkCare Can Help

WorkCare employs specialists in injury prevention and customized ergonomic programs, and it has taken the National Safety Council’s MSD Solutions Lab pledge to help employers dramatically reduce work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Understanding the regulations and implementing injury prevention programs can seem like a daunting task. WorkCare is here to help. Connect with our team to learn about proven ways to create safer, healthier workplaces.