According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), or ergonomic injuries, are one of the most common injuries route delivery drivers encounter and accounted for 33 percent of all workplace injuries and illnesses requiring days away from work for all occupations in 2011. Of these injuries, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, such as beverage delivery drivers, had the greatest median days away from work for the MSD injury category, OSHA stated in its November 2012 report, “Nonfatal Occupational Injuries and Illnesses Requiring Days Away From Work, 2011.” More than one-third of MSDs for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers were back injuries, and more than 16 percent were shoulder injuries, it reports.
To prevent such injuries, create a safer working environment and save companies money from workers’ compensation claims, the carts and hand trucks industry has worked to develop more ergonomic methods of beverage delivery.