Exoskeletons Are Reshaping Warehouse Safety

Backed by long-term field data and growing industry adoption, wearable exoskeletons are emerging as a practical tool for reducing musculoskeletal injuries, improving worker retention, and complementing traditional ergonomics programs in warehouses and distribution centers.

• By Karl Zelik
• Sep 14, 2026

Workers in warehousing, distribution, and logistics continue to experience high injury rates—notably low back pain and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) from bending and lifting heavy objects. These overexertion injuries impact workers on and off the job and are costly for companies who spend money on worker medical costs and see a loss in productivity.

Until recently, many facilities have relied on traditional ergonomic and engineering controls to manage MSD risks. These are certainly still essential, but injury rates remain stubbornly high and are even increasing in some workplaces due to higher throughput from automation. There is growing interest in emerging technologies that can boost worker safety and retention. However, a barrier to adoption of new safety technologies has been uncertainty over whether or not they were truly ready for ‘prime time.’

The past two years have marked a significant inflection point for the field of wearable safety technologies, especially exoskeletons. Interest in occupational exoskeletons has surged, according to logistics leader, DHL, and their 2025 survey data. DHL identified exoskeletons as an emerging priority and focus area for supply chain leaders. In tandem with industry prioritization, large-scale and longitudinal safety data has now emerged, showing the sustained and measurable real-world impacts of exoskeletons.

What Are Industrial Exoskeletons?

An exoskeleton is a wearable device that physically assists the body during demanding movements, postures, and tasks. Exoskeletons include rigid devices as well as soft textile-based devices called exosuits—each of which can be powered by motors or assist passively using springs or elastic bands.

Some of the most common exoskeleton uses are in distribution centers and warehouses. Warehouse workers lift tens of thousands of pounds of goods per day and are at a high risk of back injury and burnout. Exoskeletons have been found to ease bodily strain, make lifting easier, and boost endurance. Peer-reviewed scientific studies and industrial case studies demonstrate that exoskeletons can reduce musculoskeletal loading— by roughly 10-50% for specific body parts and tasks. Not enough to cause muscle atrophy, but enough to reduce risks and help workers go home with more energy and less pain.

What is Driving The Surge of Industrial Interest in Exoskeletons?

Facility leaders are under pressure to keep operations moving, maintain a low injury rate, and provide a quality of life that makes workers want to keep showing up. Physical burnout and work-related MSDs are expensive and painful to workers and employers alike and compounded by labor shortages. Exoskeletons are gaining attention because they have matured from prototypes into practical and proven safety tools. There is now converging evidence that modern exoskeletons can:

• Reduce turnover
• Reduce MSD risks
• Boost productivity
• Deliver a strong ROI

The turnover rate in warehousing is often between 50-150% annually. This high rate is in part due to sore, exhausted, or injured workers that are more likely to leave their jobs—which exoskeletons can alleviate. For example, after rolling out back-support exosuits for 12 months, one food and beverage distribution center reported a double-digit decrease in turnover.

Exoskeletons help support the health and well-being of workers by reducing exposure to physical risk factors like excessive forces, which have long-term impacts on injury incidence. MSDs due to overexertion and repetitive motion cost businesses in the U.S. over $15.5 billion a year. The average workplace strain or sprain costs $67K from medical treatment, lost productivity, overtime, and training replacement workers.

There is also growing evidence that exoskeletons can increase productivity, particularly in warehousing and distribution due to workers being less tired. Importantly, academic and industry studies have found that these performance benefits can be achieved without offsetting the safety benefits of exoskeletons.

Ultimately, this combination of exoskeleton benefits can improve a company’s bottom line. In logistics, some companies have reported 5-10X return on investment (ROI) after implementing back exosuits in jobs well suited to the technology. Companies can now use exoskeleton ROI calculators to explore payback periods, and how injury, retention, and productivity changes factor into the equation. They can also learn from peer deployments—what worked well and what didn’t.

Mounting Long-Term Evidence Strengthens The Safety Case For Exoskeletons

Historically, long-term evidence has been the missing puzzle piece for companies to fully buy into—or start piloting—exoskeletons. However, this is no longer the case.

Over the last few years, long-term field studies (real-world industry analyses) have emerged and consistently shown the efficacy of exoskeletons across companies and facilities, over months and years of use. As such, exoskeletons are no longer an experimental technology. Ten years ago, there were almost no workers using exoskeletons. Today, exoskeletons are being used routinely by tens of thousands of workers.

Exoskeleton implementation specialists and occupational health professionals have played a pivotal role in learning from long-term adopters and deployments. There are now over a dozen longitudinal studies on exoskeletons in the public domain. These include:

• Peer-reviewed and industry-reported case studies
• Longitudinal injury data spanning more than 1 million worker hours
• Quantitative industry outcomes from 8-36-month exoskeleton deployments
• Long-term outcomes reported from end user companies like Toyota, Ford, Rust-Oleum, URM Food Service, and Boeing, and workers’ compensation insurance providers like Amerisure

Long-term injury data have primarily come from large-scale exoskeleton deployments in North America, with a focus on rigid shoulder exoskeletons for overhead work in manufacturing and soft back exosuits for case picking and material handling in logistics. Exoskeleton use is also growing in other parts of the world like Europe and Asia.

With Myths Fading, Exoskeletons are Proving Their Place in Safety Programs

The demise of several exoskeleton myths and misconceptions has further fueled growth. Perceptions are shifting, from previous thoughts of an exoskeleton being a Hollywood-style wearable robotic, to now being a routine wearable safety tool.

One historical barrier to exoskeleton adoption was the fear of the unknown. For instance, safety professionals were worried about potential unintended consequences, such as an exoskeleton shifting injury risk from the back to other body parts. This concern has now been addressed by peer-reviewed research studies and longitudinal industry data.

A 2025 long-term study across five distribution centers over 8-23 months of exosuit use found a 62% decrease in total strain and sprain injury rate. The number of back injuries amongst workers decreased to zero when wearing exosuits, without a corresponding increase in injuries to other parts of the body. Meanwhile, two academic studies in 2024 and 2025 found that back exosuits simultaneously reduced loading on both the back and knees. This contemporary evidence shows it is feasible for exoskeletons to reduce injury rates without shifting risk—a major step forward for the safety field.

Leading Companies Are Already Scaling Exoskeleton Programs—Here’s How

With less uncertainty and more objective evidence, companies are increasingly focused on deploying and scaling exoskeletons to enhance worker safety. The key is matching the right exoskeleton to the right jobs and implementing exoskeletons within an ergonomics program in a way that is complementary to—and not a substitute for—traditional controls.

To achieve sustained success with exoskeletons, it’s best to engage with implementation specialists. They can help identify the ideal use case, and assist with best practices for training, fitting, and rolling out exoskeleton technology, including gaining buy-in from all the stakeholders.

Many organizations are already evaluating how modern exoskeletons can reduce risk and support their workforce. Safety leaders who understand these technologies today will be better positioned to protect workers tomorrow.

This article originally appeared in the September 2026 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.