With funding from an L&I SHIP grant, Washington Retail collaborated with the University of Washington College of Engineering to create ErgoApp, a unique safety app for smartphones. The integration of augmented reality makes the app an easy-to-use tool with significant advantages for employee safety.

Capitalizing on the quality of modern smartphone cameras and faster processors, the user can take advantage of ErgoApp’s ability to evaluate posture in real-time. For example, a friend, coworker, or supervisor using the app on a smartphone can record an employee’s movements while lifting or placing objects. The app can identify the worker’s anatomical structures during each activity and immediately identify movements at high risk for potential injury.

Using a smartphone’s camera, the ErgoApp can help workers in any line of work reduce the likelihood of injury, especially when lifting or moving heavy objects.

Supervisors of manual labor workers are impressed with how easy the ErgoApp is to use and its real-time responsive analysis. Moreover, employers can use the saved video analysis recordings as verifiable evidence of required L&I safety training.

WR employs Rick Means as Director of Safety and Education who is available to members to help with safety plans and topics for safety meetings. Contact him at 360-943-9198, Ext. 118 or [email protected]