NIOSH Releases Lifting Equation Mobile App
"NLE Calc is a quick and simple way for a worker to assess their risk for injury before they manually lift an object," said NIOSH Director Dr. John Howard. "The information workers used to find in a manual is now in their back pocket and can help prevent one of the most common, and costly, work-related injuries."
NIOSH has released a free mobile app for smart phones and other mobile devices to help workers be safe when manually lifting objects. The app, NLE Calc, is based on the Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation, an internationally recognized standard for safe lifting.
The new app is designed to assist workers in manufacturing, health care, retail, and other industries where lifting is part of the job. NLE Calc determines a score based on the data a user enters about a lifting task and offers recommendations to optimize the task or perform it differently.
"NLE Calc is a quick and simple way for a worker to assess their risk for injury before they manually lift an object," said NIOSH Director Dr. John Howard. "The information workers used to find in a manual is now in their back pocket and can help prevent one of the most common, and costly, work-related injuries."
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are common in industries where lifting is part of the job; they cause one-third of work-related injuries resulting in missed workdays, costing about $45 to $54 billion annually in lost productivity and treatment, according to estimates from the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine.
The app calculates the lifting index, which is the ratio of the load lifted to the recommended weight limit for the lifting task, and displays the risk level as yellow (low), orange (medium), or high (red), and the app gives workers the option of using the composite lifting equation to optimize multiple complex lifting tasks, such as lifting many objects of various weights in succession or lifting objects in awkward positions.
To install the NLE Calc app on an iOS or Android device, visit iTunes or Google Play and search for NLE Calc.