In every business, there are innumerable factors that can affect the bottom line. One of the most important factors is the occurrence of injury on the workplace. Industries need to be particularly careful about the safety of their workers, as the damage caused at the work place can be significant and permanent. Not only may an employee lose their livelihood due to an injury, but also the employer will lose money in the following areas:

Increased insurance costs

Increased Worker’s Compensation Board, or similar entity, costs

A downturn in public opinion

The loss of a trained employee, which means more down time plus the additional costs of training a new one

Repetitive motion injury

The awareness of repetitive motion injuries within the workplace is a fairly new occurrence. Repetitive motion injuries take a while to manifest themselves, and only recently has medical research begun to look at the phenomenon and how it comes about.

The first awareness of industry and business when it came to repetitive motion injury was through secretaries and others whose jobs meant spending a lot of time using a keyboard or typewriter. Over time they began developing strains on their wrist and hands. While in some cases these injuries can be treated, many times they are chronic. The fact that most patients need to continue using the muscles harmed by repetitive motion only compounds the damage, and when the employee reaches the later stages of life they may be in constant pain.

Repetitive motion in industry

Repetitive motion injuries are certainly not limited to those who work with keyboards. Anyone who uses their hands for fine motor skills on a regular basis is at risk; some doctors say that it can take as little as 20 minutes in a day for this type of injury to begin to accrue. Any use of the hands for repetitive tasks can cause these injuries, from grabbing wood off of a chain to using a pair of manual wire cutters to obtain the correct length of cable.

That’s where technology can end up saving a business a bundle (through lower employee absenteeism, increased insurance costs, and material waste), and the employees of a business a lot of unnecessary pain. The use of an automatic wire cutter will mean that one of the most repetitive tasks, and one with the most potential for causing long term injury, will be done by machine rather than by hand.