• Warehousing and manufacturing sectors are facing rising “ergonomic debt,” where workflows and tools designed for processes rather than people cause cumulative physical strain, injuries, and long-term costs, influencing investment, workforce planning, and automation strategies.
• Despite automation, manual operations remain central, making ergonomics in tool design, workflow optimisation, and training critical for reducing injuries, improving productivity, and eliminating micro-inefficiencies.
• Ergonomic improvements also enhance labour stability, retention, and regulatory compliance, with data-driven monitoring, adaptive devices, and scalable interventions helping to meet workforce expectations, reduce training time, and support operational planning.

Warehousing and manufacturing operators are facing rising productivity and safety challenges linked to “ergonomic debt” – the cumulative cost of workflows and equipment designed for processes rather than people. The issue, highlighted at ProGlove’s ProPulse event in Munich, is influencing investment, workforce planning, and automation strategies across logistics and manufacturing sectors.

Ergonomic debt refers to long-term physical strain caused by repetitive movements, heavy lifting, and poorly designed tools. Lampa said demographic pressures are intensifying the challenge. “The number of available people in blue collar work is going down every year,” he said. “At the same time, most of us will need to work until we are older.

“Every injury has an average direct cost of around 15,000 euros, and the total cost is about ten times as large when including replacement, training, and reintegration,” Lampa said. “Health and safety performance is a strategic factor rather than a compliance metric.”

Lampa also said that traditional assessments of workplace safety often overlook micro-level strain. “Many organisations focus on reported injuries, but repetitive strain and cumulative load are largely invisible until they create long-term absence,” he said.

Manual operations remain central despite automation

Despite continued investment in robotics, automated storage systems, and goods-to-person platforms, most warehouses still rely on manual labour for picking, packing, loading, and exception handling. Lampa said this increases the importance of ergonomics in workflow design, device selection, and worker training. “We can show how many bad lifts or bad movements happen in a workstation,” he said. “This allows operations managers to target improvements and reduce long-term strain.”

Highlighting that legacy devices often do not meet the needs of a younger workforce, Lampa said: “Some of the tools being used today were designed for another generation,” Lampa said. “If you present a device with small physical buttons to someone who has used touchscreens their whole life, it creates friction from day one. Introducing tools designed for people rather than processes reduces injuries and improves productivity.”

Lampa noted that productivity gains from ergonomic improvements are not limited to injury reduction. “When you give workers tools that are lightweight, adaptive, and easy to use, micro inefficiencies are eliminated, and training time is reduced,” he said.

Labour stability and regulatory pressures

Ergonomics is increasingly linked to workforce stability and retention. Lampa said operators with lower turnover achieve higher productivity and reduced training costs. “Companies with high turnover have higher labour costs because they are constantly restarting the learning curve,” he said. “When you take care of labour through ergonomic improvements, productivity increases and retention rises.”

Regulatory expectations are also rising. European postal and parcel hubs are now required to monitor daily carried weight and movement frequency by workstation. Enforcement bodies expect documented plans to reduce exposure when workloads exceed recommended limits. “Authorities are asking for data, not estimates,” Lampa said. “Start with one work area, learn from it, then scale.”

Lampa emphasised flexibility in planning, particularly in mixed environments where manual labour will remain dominant: “Scalable and measurable ergonomic improvements are becoming integral to operational planning and risk management. By integrating sensors and analytics, you can continuously improve safety, retain staff, and optimise productivity.”

Aligning ergonomic solutions with workforce expectations supports recruitment of younger employees accustomed to digital interfaces. “If you provide devices that match how people already interact with technology, you reduce training barriers and increase engagement,” Lampa said.