Movement to improve workplace safety covers
nearly 2.9 million employees worldwide; grant recipients to help
advance musculoskeletal disorder research and innovation
WASHINGTON, June 13,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Musculoskeletal disorders,
or MSDs, are the most common workplace injury and the second
leading cause in shortening people's working years in the U.S. They
also cost businesses in the private sector nearly $17 billion each year. Recognizing the impact
these injuries have on workers and employers, the National Safety
Council launched the MSD Pledge in June 2022 and the MSD Pledge 2.0 in
October 2023 to spur a global
movement to transform workplace safety and improve the lives of
millions of workers. Today, more than 200 of the world's leading
organizations – representing nearly 2.9 million employees – have
joined this effort to reduce MSD risk and enhance the physical and
psychological wellbeing of all workers.
To commemorate this milestone, the MSD Solutions Lab, a
groundbreaking NSC initiative established in 2021 with funding from
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) to solve workplace MSDs, today hosted
its third annual Workplace Safety Summit:
Harnessing Innovation and Collaboration. During the
event, a keynote address was given by Julia
Abate, executive director for the Ergonomics Center at
North Carolina State University, and a
panel discussion was held with MSD Pledge members Schneider
Electric and Superior Tube Products, in addition to 2023-2024
Research to Solutions (R2S) grant recipient Rutgers University. NSC also proudly awarded nearly
$265,000 through the 2024-2025 R2S
and MSD Solutions Pilot Grant programs to help nine leading
organizations uncover promising new safety solutions to prevent
work-related MSDs. As a key initiative of the MSD Solutions Lab, a
total of $540,000 has now been
committed in grants over the past two years.
"At NSC, we believe every employee deserves to work in an
environment where their safety is valued, and risks and injuries
are minimized. The MSD Solutions Lab addresses the critical toll
MSDs take on people and businesses, and I'm incredibly proud of the
progress we have made in just three years," said Lorraine Martin, NSC president and CEO. "Between
growing the MSD Pledge to more than 200 committed organizations and
awarding grants to some of the nation's top innovators, we are one
step closer to helping workers everywhere lead healthier, fuller,
MSD-free lives."
"We value our NSC partnership because of our shared commitment
to reducing MSDs through engaging key stakeholders, conducting
research, identifying new technology, innovating solutions and
scaling the results," said Sarah
Rhoads, Vice President of Global Workplace Health and Safety
at Amazon. "We're proud to see how far this important initiative
has come and look forward to even more organizations joining us as
MSD Pledge members."
For the 2024-2025 grant cycle, NSC called upon R2S applicants to
support one or more key research areas, including emerging
technologies, solutions to jobs or tasks known to have high MSD
risk, MSD management systems, and total worker wellbeing. This
year's R2S grant recipients include the following
organizations:
- Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, Virginia), awarded $50,000 to examine responsible machine learning
and artificial intelligence-based biomechanical exposure
assessments across diverse worker groups.
- North Carolina State
University (Raleigh, North
Carolina), awarded $50,000 to
evaluate an augmented reality-based visualization and optimization
tool on work zones to assess real-time object placement.
- Oregon State University
(Corvallis, Oregon), awarded
$50,000 to develop a non-invasive
lower back injury risk assessment using a smartphone motion capture
system with machine learning and musculoskeletal modeling.
- Wichita State University
(Wichita, Kansas), awarded
$48,500 to assess the feasibility of
utilizing arm support exoskeletons for overhead construction tasks
and evaluating the impact on musculoskeletal health.
This year's MSD Solutions Pilot Grant, which is designed to help
organizations prevent MSDs caused by upper-extremity work, provides
MSD Pledge members with the opportunity to partner with six
leading technology providers to trial emerging solutions in
real-life applications. Pledge members selected for the
2024-2025 MSD Solutions Pilot Grant
include:
- Ocean Spray Cranberries and the City of Tacoma, awarded $20,000, will work with Feraru Dynamics
LTD to mitigate hand-arm vibration measures and exposure
among 20 power tool operators across the food manufacturing and
public utilities industries in Tacoma,
Washington.
- PepsiCo Global Concentrates Solutions, awarded
$18,000, will team with
LifeBooster to collect and analyze ergonomic risk
data and identify upper-extremity mitigation strategies.
- Wonderbrands, awarded $18,000, will partner
with LifeBooster to identify and address
ergonomic risks caused by upper-extremity work and heavy lifting,
in addition to evaluating in-house capabilities for digitized
risk assessments to help reduce injuries.
- Superior Tube Products, awarded $10,000, will use 3motionAI's
video motion capture technology to quantify the impact of existing
safety programs and create an enterprise evaluation of risk and
actionable data to drive ergonomic solutions for all
employees.
This year's grant recipients will have an opportunity to present
their safety findings at the 2025 NSC Safety Congress & Expo or
another event next year. The inaugural recipients will share
their key learnings and research at this year's NSC Safety Congress
& Expo in Orlando,
Florida taking place September
16-18.
The MSD Pledge and R2S and MSD Solutions Pilot Grant programs
are among several initiatives supported by the MSD Solutions Lab to
achieve its goal of reducing MSDs. To learn more about these
efforts, visit nsc.org/msd or attend the upcoming 2024 NSC Safety
Congress & Expo to hear about the latest in MSD prevention by
registering here.
About the National Safety Council
The National Safety Council is America's leading nonprofit safety
advocate – and has been for 110 years. As a mission-based
organization, we work to eliminate the leading causes of
preventable death and injury, focusing our efforts on the workplace
and roadways. We create a culture of safety to not only keep people
safer at work, but also beyond the workplace so they can live their
fullest lives.
Connect with NSC:
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SOURCE National Safety Council