Case Study: Trinity Health achieves 30% reduction in musculoskeletal disorder risk with VelocityEHS

Reduced Musculoskeletal Disorder Risk by 30%

Trinity Health, one of the largest Catholic health systems in the U.S. with 90 hospitals and 120 continuing care locations, faced persistent staff injuries from patient handling. Citing NIOSH’s 35-pound guideline as a safe force limit, the organization found nurses couldn’t reliably judge what that force felt like for pushing, pulling, and repositioning tasks and needed a program to train staff and empower use of assistive equipment.

Trinity implemented a standardized training and measurement program—training site reps, supplying a “little red bag” of force gauges and tools, and requiring measurements of common tasks (three readings for at least ten tasks). Analysis showed 30% of measurements exceeded 35 lb, half of which were fixed with simple modifications and under 10% needed major redesign; VelocityEHS helped prioritize improvements. The initiative trained about 100 staff initially, reduced musculoskeletal disorder risk by 30%, and continues to expand training and task redesign.

Trinity Health

Teresa Fisk

Non-Clinical Loss Control Director