4 Safety Reasons to Invest in an Ergo Trim Station

According to the California Department of Labor Statistics and Research, workers in food-processing plants have a higher likelihood of being hurt on the job than workers in many other industries.¹ Reaching across a conveyor, lifting heavy loads, twisting and bending at a work station, performing repetitive tasks, and working in awkward positions – all tasks commonly found in processing plants – are leading risk factors for injury.

It’s why ergonomics — the study of how to improve the fit between the tasks of the job and the employees who perform the work — play a significant role in promoting safe workplaces and reducing the high cost of employee absenteeism and injury.

Enter the Ergo Trim Station

Here at Fusion Tech, we take ergonomics and employee safety seriously when designing and manufacturing a processing solution for your plant.  One of our most recent designs — the Ergo Trim Station — is just one example of how we go above and beyond in merging custom solutions with ergonomic safety.

The Ergo Trim Station is a meat and poultry trim station complete with an ergonomic stand that comes with a removable and store-able seat. The seat allows employees to rest when fatigued, or remove the seat when it’s not needed. It integrates perfectly into your current operation, with an adjustable product chute to move trimmed components onto a nearby conveyor.

Why Invest in the Ergo Trim Station

So why should you invest in the Ergo Trim Station? Here are a few good reasons:

Ergonomic Stand Provides Proper Positioning

Ergonomic stands are becoming more and more common in food processing facilities, and for good reason. Constant over reaching or bending over to reach one’s workstation can lead to severe musculoskeletal diseases — and costs you thousands, if not millions, in employee injury claims. An ergonomic stand with anti-slip coating will not only position your employees at the proper working height to avoid injury, the anti-slip coating will keep them safe from slips and falls.

Adjustable Seat for Resting

When employees need to stand in a single spot for hours on end, fatigue is bound to set in. Providing them breaks to sit is necessary, but when the place to rest is on the other side of your facility, it costs you greatly in employee down time. Attaching a seat to the ergo stand eliminates the need for employees to walk to a break location to sit for a few minutes, and brings it right to them. Not only does this save you time and money, it allows your employees to take quick breaks during their work periods to sit and recover from fatigue.

The seat also adjusts in multiple ways to provide the best options for all employees: the seat itself tips a full 180 degrees, giving employees the perfect angle for ergonomically safe sitting. The seat also adjusts up and down to accommodate different employee heights, while the whole mechanism can move closer or further from the workstation.

Product Chute to Avoid Twists and Turns

Constant twists and turns — such as moving product from one workstation to a nearby conveyor — can also lead to employee injuries. That’s why the Ergo Trim Station comes with a product chute. Employees need only to push product into the hole in the cutting area to move product from their workstation to a nearby conveyor.

The chute is adjustable to integrate perfectly into your current system, and strategically placed to keep employees from injury.

Conveyor Guard

The Ergo Trim Station is designed to sit next to a conveyor, to move trimmed components easily and quickly to further processing operations. It’s why we equip these trim stations with guarding to protect employees from injuring themselves on the nearby conveyors. The guarding prevents employees from accidentally catching themselves or their clothes on the moving components of the conveyor. It also prevents them from resting their feet or legs on the side of the conveyor.

Increase Safety in Your Plant

The Ergo Trim Station truly is the latest in ergonomic innovation available for your facility. Whether you’re looking for a trim station, or just want to integrate the ergo stand with seat onto other equipment, Fusion Tech can provide you with custom ergonomic and safety solutions that will greatly reduce the risk of employee injury in your plant.

You can learn more about our Ergo Trim Station by downloading the Fusion Protect catalog.