Data Showed Zero Back Injuries among DC Workers versus 10.5 Expected

It’s obviously new the company wants to hear, but Herowear, maker of an “exosuit” (think a junior version of Ironman) says data from its customer shows significant reduction in injuries for DC workers resulting from its technology.

Supply Chain Digest Says... HeroWear also says that overexertion at work costs US businesses $12.5 billion annually, with back pain also ranking as the leading cause of disability in 160 countries. What do you say? Click here to send us your comments Click here to see reader feedback

Having deployed HeroWear Apex 2 exosuits at multiple distribution centers across the United States, the company analyzed data on workers injuries from over 280,000 hours of work. This dataset is equivalent to having 140 full-time employees working for one year while regularly wearing exosuits. All told, the data tracked an estimated 50-60 million lifts by the DC workers.

The study found that zero back injuries were reported among workers wearing exosuits. Additionally, exosuit users reported a 25% decrease in work-related bodily discomfort and a 20% reduction in work-related fatigue on average.

Prior to rolling out the exosuits, these distribution centers would expect an estimated 10.5 back injuries throughout this period based on historical injury rates at the facilities analyzed.

HeroWear says that there until now there was little long-term injury data regarding industrial exoskeleton or exosuit. However, it adds that dozens of academic and industry studies have validated the effectiveness of HeroWear’s exosuits, which it says typically take 20-40% of the load off the user’s back muscles as they perform repetitive bending and lifting motions.

One company participating in the study was URM, the largest food distributor in the Inland Northwest. Two other companies implemented the exosuits in four distribution centers and used them regularly for months.

“People have been asking for longitudinal data on exosuits for years, so we were excited to gather and share this injury data reported by clients,” says Dr. Karl Zelik, HeroWear co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer. “These and other clients seeing success are expanding and rolling out exosuits with more workers and at additional sites. We are very data-centric and plan to keep collecting data for millions of hours. We will keep learning, sharing, and focusing on how exosuits impact injury rates over time, across different sites, and industries.”

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HeroWear also says that overexertion at work costs US businesses $12.5 billion annually, with back pain also ranking as the leading cause of disability in 160 countries.

HeroWear claims its Apex 2 suit not only protects workers but also yields a financial return on investment (ROI), returning up to 2.4X the deployment cost in the first year based on injury reduction alone.

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