The challenge
At one of Hugo Boss's textile facilities, the labeling and sorting line had been a persistent source of ergonomic complaints. Operators stood for full shifts performing repetitive shoulder-height reaches and trunk-forward bends. Internal EHS reviews flagged the line, but the cycle of "observe, train, repeat" was not moving the numbers.
The plant's EHS team needed a method that worked across shifts, did not interrupt production, and produced evidence the works council could trust.
What we did
ErgoRisk was rolled out at three stations along the line over the course of two weeks. A short phone video of each station was uploaded to the platform, which returned full REBA and APLE scores per body region, ranked by exposure time.
The output drove three concrete changes:
- Re-engineered the label-feed jig to keep the operator's reach within shoulder height for the highest-frequency motion.
- Introduced a height-adjustable platform at the sorting station so shorter operators were no longer working with the trunk-forward posture flagged by REBA.
- Added two micro-break cycles per shift, timed against APLE static-posture dwell scores.
ErgoRisk's tracking board kept the line manager, the EHS lead, and the operations director on the same dashboard. Every change had a target date and a re-assessment after implementation.
Results
After six months on the program:
- 42% reduction in high-risk postures across the assessed stations, measured by REBA score distribution shifting out of the "high" and "very high" action levels.
- Sustained reduction in self-reported MSK complaints from the line, recorded in the plant's quarterly EHS survey.
- The platform paid for itself in avoided absenteeism days within the first two quarters.
The works council asked us how the numbers were calculated. We pulled up the exact REBA scoring table for that station. That kind of defensibility used to take us a week of physiotherapist visits.
— Plant EHS Lead, Hugo Boss textile facility