University-Industry Partnership Studies Auto Workers Ergonomic Situation

In the automotive industry, a single back injury can add as much as $2,000 to the cost of production of a single vehicle. But until recently, there hasn’t been very much research into the ways that U.S. automakers could reduce stress, fatigue and injury to U.S. auto workers. A university and industry collaboration has developed a think-tank that has begun to research ways to use material handling equipment to reduce these stresses on workers.