Back Safety for Movers

Cover Image for Back Safety for Movers

Overview

This project is a job aid aimed at employees of a moving company. The goal of this job aid is to remind employees of healthy practices and to reduce the amount of back injuries.

Audience: All employees who work as movers in the company.

Responsibilities: Instructional Design.

Tools Used: Canva.

Problem

The fictional client for this project was a moving company, Muscle Movers, which had had a series of incidents in which several employees were improperly handling boxes and getting hurt on the job. The injuries often stemmed from carrying weight that was too heavy or improper posture. The injuries were affecting employee health and also the company's ability to fulfill its commitments to customers, as sometimes there would not be enough employees available for all moves scheduled on a given day.

Muscle Movers had an onboarding quick in-person training in which a seasoned employee would model best practices for moving boxes for newly hired employees. The new employees would then be asked to lift and drop a box showing proper form. It was clear that this training was not sufficient.

Solution

I recommended job aids in the form of posters that would be placed in all key areas of the company's headquarters from where the employees had to depart for every move. My recommendation also included adding a 5-minute routine before every move in which each group would stand in front of the poster, read the steps, and practice proper form while lifting, carrying, and dropping an empty box.

This solution was efficient because it allowed for employees to be constantly reminded of best practices in a way that was relevant for their job (right before departing for a move) and without having the employer invest a lot of time or money.

After finding out more about the company's staff and realizing that there were some Spanish-speaking employees who were not comfortable with English, I also suggested having the posters available in both languages.

Process

1. Design document

I started the project by talking to one of the managers about best practices for lifting boxes and deciding what information was crucial. After that, I created a rough document that included the steps that were going to be on the poster.

2. Development

Once the content was approved, I started designing the document. I sectioned each step clearly in the layout, added a number, and a visual of a character or a box that connected with the content of the text. I used the company's corporate colors (light yellow and green) throughout the design, and modified designs for characters and boxes available on Canva by changing their original color in order to match the design.

Once the design of the poster was satisfactory, I created the second poster in Spanish following the same design.

3. Finished product
Six steps to keep your back safe
5 pasos para evitar lesiones