In our industry, repeated movements like bending, twisting, pulling, reaching, lifting, carrying, and pushing heavy objects are common. If these activities are performed improperly or excessively, they can cause musculoskeletal injuries like sprains and strains. Experiencing chronic muscular injuries of this nature can lead to more serious problems later on in life.

At Christensen Lumber, we do everything we can to mitigate the potential risk of short and long-term injury in the job functions we perform daily. When taking a reflective look at our day-to-day workplace routines, it is important to consider just how repetitive our routines are and the overall wear and tear on the parts of the body our activities affect. Being willing to take a hard look at our routines and put in the work to make them healthier and safer help us to minimize on-the-job risks of injury.

Christensen Lumbr participated in a LifeBooster study of job-related injury risk. Musculoskeletal disorders, such as back strain and shoulder injuries, are the most common and detrimental type of preventable workplace injury and can have a dramatic effect on quality of life. 

LifeBooster Senz is a technology designed to assess the exposure a worker experiences while performing their daily duties. Through our participation in this study, we were able to identify, with great precision, exactly where the risks associated with awkward postures, repetitive strain, and overexertion present themselves by using wearable technology and advanced analytics. The ErgoSenz wearable sensors provided the ability to continuously analyze worker motions by precise body joint and muscle movement. These risk analyses gave us new insights into the effectiveness of our existing operational health and safety programs. It also gave us new leads on which activities and motions to target through new standards, trainings, or restrictions for our employees' well-being at work.