Design of Ergonomic Tools for Commercial Laboratory Technicians

Repetitive tasks performed in a commercial laboratory potentially expose lab technicians to repetitive-motion stresses and strains. Our goal was to reduce or eliminate the risk of injuries through design strategies, such as automation, changes in work flow, system design improvements, or ergonomic assist tools. This article describes six undergraduate biomedical engineering student design innovations conceived for solving challenging ergonomics problems at Covance Laboratories in Madison, Wisconsin. Their designs tackled laboratory procedures for administering substances, sampling blood, removing container lids, vortex mixing, cage opening, and automated bioanalytical test tube uncapping. The successful designs were built, tested, and put into practice