New Equipment Digest: Preventing back injuries has been a hot topic within the modern workplace. Up to 80% of Americans experience back pain in their lifetime—the leading cause of disability in 160 countries. In materials handling industries, repetitive bending and lifting put tremendous strain on workers' backs, resulting in back injury rates that far exceed those in the general public and other industries.
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I feel that the jobs that would benefit from exoskeletons the most are also the ones that suffer from the same type of toxic masculinity that cause a lot of the incidents. I hope that as safety standards shift so to do the tools that are used to assist in keeping workers safe. The use of soft materials, elastics, and springs is fascinating to me. If I was to wear a exoskeleton to help with lifting I would certainly want it to be lightweight and easy to maneuver in, if it isn't then I would feel wearing it would be more effort than its worth. I also appreciate that workers keeping ourselves safe in workspaces can help us to have better lives outside of work. After a long day it would be a lot better to return home without an aching back and joints. I can’t wait to watch the evolution of this extremely useful technology and how it is used in a variety of industries.
This article was kind of hard to read to be completely honest… So I’m not sure I understood some of the information. But, I think the idea of using exoskeletons makes a lot of sense. Human workers shouldn’t be viewed as expendable. It is not ethical to simply replace workers when their physical health inevitably decreases. Injuries affect that person for the rest of their life. The use of exoskeletons will help that decay and make labor intensive jobs work more efficiently. The price of the exoskeletons will hopefully balance the price a company would be losing with worker injuries and productivity. I like the use of automation for assistance rather than complete takeover. It still employs humans, but makes the effects of working less detrimental.
I am happy to see that the idea that ‘It’s just the nature of the job’ is being challenged in this sector as often I hear this argument while also looking at a solution dead in the eyes, so I’m glad to hear that’s not the case for this implementation of a new idea. The statistics on how much exoskeletons helped surprised me in a good way, 40 percent less fatigue is a huge leap in the right direction for making the quality of life for workers productive and pleasant to be so. The fact that there were 52 percent less medical visits for the group with exoskeletons is also mind blowing, that is more than half of all medical visits and I bet it helps with costs to not have to pay to see a medical professional for something an exoskeleton can prevent now. It is also not that common to find a solution that benefits both the worker’s who want quality of life and pay with business who wants to keep costs low, but it seems that exoskeletons are that perfect solution that saves everyone money and worker’s health is protected. Though, as the article warned, the exoskeleton is to be paired with other beneficial ergonomic behaviors or it will not produce these results, so an exoskeleton isn’t the end all be all but it is a fantastic start.
This new piece of personal protective equipment, the exoskeleton and exosuit, sounds very promising. In addition to the manufacturing and material handling industry, this could have huge benefits in the theatre industry. I have met several people who have worked in theatre for years and have back pain because of it. Even for those of us who don’t have back pain (yet), not being as sore after a long call and actually being able to do other things would be fantastic. This sounds like a great tool that would increase day to day longevity, and overall longevity of technician’s backs. I hope that theatre companies will invest in these for their workers, or that they will become cheap enough so as not to be as prohibitive to the individual buyer. When that happens, I will be investing in one. The more preventative measures we have, the safer we are and the more theatre we can make.
It’s pretty interesting to see how exoskeletons are catching on and finding their place in different industries. I had my doubts about how many companies would implement them, but I was surprised when I read the numbers. It’s fantastic to see the shift of the long-term effects of a job go from being considered ‘the nature of the job’ to being seen as a real injury. Particularly, being able to reclaim your life once you come home from work, as opposed to losing it due to aches and pains, is a great product of exoskeletons. Undoubtedly, though, it’s really the third-party safety organizations that are leading the charge for this change. I’m sure it helps that OSHA and the Government Accountability Office got involved with the overexertion problem. It must’ve spurred most companies into investing in exoskeletons, even if it’s just to avoid the liability. I hope this trend continues to grow and become the new standard for the warehousing industry.
Yay for looking out for workers’ health and trying to come up with solutions for very common problems! 30% less people reported back discomfort by wearing an exoskeleton is amazing! And the fact that Ford’s overall employee medical visits within 18 months went down by 52% is monumental. The prices of these are not cheap, averagely ranging between 1,000-3,000 dollars. Hopefully we will get to a point where companies realize the many benefits to their business that this has and supply these for their workers. Other than the clear pros to this invention, for individuals and for business, there’s a level of ethics that it’s solving too. With the rise in technology and its affordability increasing every year, the idea of replacing humans with robots is not new. However, these are people’s lives they are affecting and with exoskeletons, an individual can now show more positive work as time progresses, proving their worth and being able to continue providing for all.
I have recently seen a few of these exo-skeleton type inventions, and I think we should all be excited about what it could mean going forward. Bodily injury is so prevalent in every industry, but is especially the case in the world of scenery. Everything you might work with has weight, and usually that weight is more than what one person can carry comfortably and without risk. Even things that should not be a risk to carry bring along a different set of risks, because proper lifting is usually not an active thought until you end up lifting something wrong a few times and then have bad back pain for the rest of your life. Nothing that we do in theatre should ever really be worth putting your body and future on the line for, and I think that machines like this could help greatly. Imagine load-ins and load-outs where people could suit up in one of the exo-skeletons and be able to move or carry objects they never thought possible. I think that this could revolutionize the world of scenery and could give crews the ability to work faster but safer. I'm very interested to see if these ever do really come into our world, but I would definitely be one of the first people running to see if I could try it out.
Exoskeletons seem like a great invention that could really help people in all workplaces. Exoskeletons should definitely definitely be mandatory in workplaces that are full of safety hazards such as working with forklifts, etc. however I don't think we should need exoskeletons in the majority of workplaces. There are safe ways to go about this work without back injuries. I believe that it isn't simply just the nature of the work itself that is causing these injuries. I think the root of the problem is the result of muscles being overworked and overstressed due to the expectations to overproduce at a rapid rate. In the entertainment industry in particular, production work is expected to be built as quickly as possible which causes people to overwork their bodies. Until companies shift their focus to more sustainable working conditions, exoskeletons may only serve as a temporary fix rather than a long-term solution.
This seems like a really cool and innovative idea for protecting people’s health and safety in the long run. With these kinds of jobs that have a lot more manual labor, the toll it takes on your physical health is just something that's really chalked up to being part of the job but it's not really fair. These suits seem like the kind of safety precaution that once widespread use has occurred it's going to be mind boggling to think of the fact that we didn’t use them at one point, like how seat belts weren’t required in cars for a very long time. It's nice to see how safety standards for workers have been increasing over the years with the work the union has done. Once the development of these increases I hope the union takes action in requiring exoskeletons or exosuits to be provided by workplaces across the entertainment industry.
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