Crane Worldwide Logistics
A premier 3rd party logistics company

 
"Given the nature of our work, preventing musculoskeletal injuries of our employees is one of the main concerns of my job. Kinetic’s device provides a quantifiable way to reduce improper lifting that leads to injury, and we at Crane Worldwide Logistics have not found anything else on the market that can help us accomplish this."
— Laurel Parks, Performance and Safety Manager at Crane Worldwide Logistics
Crane Warehouse

Case study description

Crane Worldwide Logistics, is a large third party logistics company that serves many clients in the oil and gas industry around the world. With 107 locations in 25 different countries, they ship approximately 20 million kg of cargo per year, totaling over 1000 shipments per day. Material handling is one of the main activities of their workforce. Kinetic performed a two week pilot at their facilities in Houston, TX.

Crane Team

Highlights

  • 84% reduction in the number of high risk lifts each employee performed per day.
  • The most improved worker reduced his daily rate of high risk lifts from 323 to just 12, a reduction of 96%.
  • Workers showed high levels of satisfaction with the device and found competing against each other fun.
  • “It’s tough to always lift with the right posture, but I definitely feel less back pain at the end of the day”
  • Reinforces a safety culture and employee engagement with that culture
 

Crane Worker At their distribution facility in Houston, Texas, back injuries are their number one concern, as they deal with large and potentially heavy shipments. Workers were equipped with Kinetic’s device for a week to measure the number of high-risk lifts performed per day, and what was the riskiest time of the day. Workers averaged 140 high risk lifts per shift, with most dangerous lifts occurring just before lunch and an hour before the end of the shift.

The following week, three new elements were introduced: (i) workers were given training on proper lifting practices using Kinetic’s device, (ii) Kinetic’s device provided real-time feedback in the form of a vibration each time a worker performed a high risk lift, and (iii) friendly competition was encouraged between workers to see who could obtain the lowest number of high risk lifts. Each day a leaderboard ranking the worker’s performance was presented.

Crane Results Workers showed an 84% reduction in the number of high risk lifts performed per shift, going from 140 in week 1 to only 22 in week 2. Every single worker presented an improvement after using the device.

Scott, the worker with the most improvement reduced his high risk lifts from 323 a day to only 12, a reduction of almost 96%. He remarked, “It’s tough to always lift with the right posture, but I definitely feel less back pain at the end of the day.”

Workers found the competition fun and motivating, and the vibrations a useful way to focus on correct posture when lifting. Most workers mentioned they would recommend the product to management.