New Reflex Feature Reduces Jump-Related Injuries and Claims

May 17, 2021   |    KINETIC

Growth in e-commerce continues to drive employment in warehousing and last-mile delivery. Employees are also working longer hours than ever before, often leading to prioritization of productivity and speed over safety. This is leading to more unsafe human movements, including the increased risk of injury to backs, knees and ankles from jumping, and increased chances of slips, trips and falls.

As this sector of our economy continues to grow (e-commerce sales are expected to cross $1 trillion for the first time in 2022), the risk of injury from jumping will grow alongside it.

The Dangers of Jumping

Each and every jump a worker performs is potentially dangerous because it can result in either a single-incident acute injury, or a cumulative overuse injury. Jumping to a lower level, like off the back of a delivery vehicle or from a raised platform, can lead to two of the most common types of workplace injuries, and two leading reasons for workers’ compensation claims:  ‘overexertion and strain’ and ‘slips and falls’.

Acute injuries from jumping might include damage to tendons, ligaments and muscles in the knee or ankle. The National Safety Council  reported 66,650 knee injuries and 44,220 ankle injuries involving days away from work in 2020, with transportation and material moving being the most impacted occupation for both. Overexertion and falls were the leading events for these injuries, a portion of which were from jumping to a lower elevation. 

Jumping can have long-term effects as well, primarily in the form of strain on the lower back, knees and ankles that can lead to musculoskeletal injury. When a worker jumps down, their body has to absorb the impact of the landing; the higher up they jump from, the greater the impact

Based on a study by the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, a person jumping from a height of 2 feet would hit the ground with a force of between 5 and 8 times their body weight. For example, a 200 pound person would hit the ground with a force of 1,000 to 1,600 pounds.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)

A Costly, Yet Preventable Risk

From a workers’ compensation claims perspective, these types of injuries represent a significant, yet controllable, source of loss. While injuries and claims for high risk posture injuries may be more prevalent, jumping injuries are often more severe. National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) data for 2018-2019 shows:

  • Total cost of slip and fall claims: $20B
  • Average cost per claim: $47K

A New Jump-Related Safety Solution

Wearable technology has become an increasingly familiar solution for injury prevention among industrial workers, helping to detect environmental risks, improve ergonomics and connect lone workers. Now, this technology can help protect employees from injuries caused by performing avoidable jumps. 

We’re excited to announce a new Jump Detection feature set for the Reflex wearable platform that expands the number of risky behaviors the device can detect. Beyond measuring the way employees bend, reach and twist on the job to help prevent high risk postures, Reflex can now also measure the frequency of jumps performed to help prevent high risk jumping.

With new jump analytics accessible through the Reflex dashboard, safety managers can gain insights on frequency and timing of high risk jumps, and take actions to mitigate risk. Specifically they’re able to:

  • Discover high-risk jobs and employees, and to share data with them and provide specific coaching and support.
  • Use timestamped jumps analytics to gain visibility into on-site and off-site aspects of their operations. For example, these timestamped events can be used for identifying the routes and stops where drivers are more prone to jumps, or identifying job setup in their warehouse that leads to high risk jumps.
  • Track trends and improvement over time, to help them determine the efficacy of training and job design changes.

Jump Detection is the first of more expected additions to Reflex and is part of an ongoing effort to detect more of the high risk movements that can lead to workplace injuries and claims.

Explore the Reflex Jump Detection Feature

If you’re a Kinetic Reflex customer, or an appointed Kinetic Insurance broker helping companies reduce injuries and save on workers’ compensation insurance with Reflex, you can utilize the benefits of Jump Detection! Please reach out to our support team for details.

Or, request a free demo now and learn how you can get started with Kinetic Reflex to reduce injury rates up to 60% and workers’ compensation claims up to 50%*.

*Independently verified by Perr & Knight, a leading actuarial consulting firm.

2019 KINETIC © All rights reserved.

2019 KINETIC © All rights reserved.