Virginia residents who work in the manufacturing industry as well as their employers may be concerned about finding new ways of reducing or eliminating workplace injuries. The current methods for accurately assessing the risk of injury leave for a particular job are lacking. However, researchers believe that existing computer technology may be able to address the issue.
A grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will allow researchers to create a new measure for evaluating health outcomes. The study will use video footage, which was obtained from a number of different institutions, to visualize and track repetitive motions, especially the repetitious movements, exertions and grasps of the hand, to establish pattern recognitions. Using the pattern recognitions along with the data collected from recent epidemiology studies, the researchers can develop a foundation for engineers to assess the risk of injuries and use that information to redesign specific jobs in the workplace.
The technology could be in the form of an app on smartphone, which contains the necessary features to implement the measure. This includes a high-speed processor, a high definition camera and the ability to perform cloud computing. The smartphones could be programmed to measure and quantify motions in a manner that is more accurate, efficient and objective than current methods. With the smartphone application, manufacturing employers would have a simple method of evaluating the risk of injury to their employees. They would merely have to point an unobtrusive, handheld video device.
A workplace accident can lead to significant hardships for an injured employee. An attorney might assist such a client with filing a claim for workers’ compensation benefits and advocating for the client if the claim is disputed or denied by the employer or its insurer.