CASE STUDY
Ergo Evaluator
How a global medtech manufacturer scaled ergonomic risk identification, accelerated corrective action, and built a more defensible approach to musculoskeletal disorder prevention.
INDUSTRY
Medical Technology
Sites
160+ in 26 countries
Top Injury Type
Ergonomic / MSD
62%
100+
assessments completed in first 60 days
25%
reduction in effort to action ergonomic issues
Executive Outcome Summary
Baxter, a global medical technology manufacturer operating across more than 160 sites in 26 countries, faced a growing operational health challenge: ergonomic injuries had become its most significant injury category and a leading driver of workers’ compensation costs. Traditional assessment methods — manual evaluations, subjective scoring, and disconnected spreadsheets — could not scale across the complexity and geographic breadth of Baxter’s operations. By adopting Benchmark Gensuite Ergo Evaluator, integrated with 3Motion AI powered by Simple Therapy, Baxter built an AI-powered ergonomics assessment capability grounded in computer vision and video-based motion analysis. The result was a more consistent, scalable, and data-driven approach to ergonomic risk management: faster assessments, broader coverage, integrated corrective action tracking, and stronger visibility into where musculoskeletal disorder risk exists across the enterprise.
Managing Ergonomic Risk Across a Highly Varied Global Manufacturing Environment
Baxter is a global medtech organization with a long history of product innovation, including the development of the IV bag and home dialysis machine. Its operations span a wide range of manufacturing, assembly, inspection, servicing, and distribution activities — hospital bed servicing and assembly, quality inspection, cushion manufacturing, IV bag production, plastic extrusion, and equipment assembly — creating significant variation in physical job demands across a global footprint of more than 160 sites in 26 countries.
That diversity creates a challenge common to large manufacturers: ensuring ergonomic risk assessments remain consistent, scalable, and actionable across different job types, facilities, and geographies. As Baxter expanded its global operations, the company recognized that ergonomic risk management required more than periodic assessments. It required a repeatable process capable of identifying risk, prioritizing interventions, validating improvements, and supporting enterprise-wide safety decision-making.
INDUSTRY CONTEXT
Musculoskeletal disorders remain among the most persistent — and preventable — workplace health challenges across global manufacturing.
When Ergonomic Injuries Became the Enterprise’s Number-One Safety Problem
Ergonomic-related injuries had become one of Baxter’s most significant operational health and safety concerns. Mike Day, Director of Global Safety and Occupational Health at Baxter, shared the operational picture clearly: ergonomic injuries represented 45% of all injuries at the company, ergonomic-related claims accounted for 41% of workers’ compensation claims, and approximately $0.53 of every workers’ compensation dollar spent was associated with ergonomics-related incidents.
“It wasn’t a behavior problem. It wasn’t a training problem. It was just a fundamental mismatch between the human body’s ability to do the work that we were asking them to do.” — Mike Day, Director of Global Safety and Occupational Health, Baxter
Baxter’s previous approach relied heavily on manual evaluation techniques. Assessments required approximately one hour per task, depended on subjective evaluator judgment, and produced data that lived in spreadsheets — making it difficult to compare risk across sites, demonstrate whether interventions were working, or build defensible records for workers’ compensation review. As assessment volume increased across more than 160 global sites, these limitations made it increasingly difficult to scale ergonomic risk management in any systematic way.
The organization needed a better way to understand physical job demands objectively, identify risk exposure earlier, and prioritize corrective actions based on evidence rather than assumption.
Instead of taking a blanket approach, we can be surgical and intentional.
Mike Day — Director of Global Safety and Occupational Health, Baxter
An Integrated Approach Connecting AI Computer Vision, Ergonomics Expertise, and EHS Workflow Management
Rather than treating ergonomics as a standalone evaluation activity, Baxter adopted an integrated approach that combined Benchmark Gensuite Ergo Evaluator with 3Motion AI, powered by Simple Therapy. The partnership connected Benchmark Gensuite’s EHS workflow and corrective action capabilities with 3Motion AI’s video-based ergonomic risk assessment technology, giving Baxter a more scalable way to assess physical job demands, prioritize ergonomic risk, and move assessment findings into operational action.
Through the 3Motion AI integration, Benchmark Gensuite Ergo Evaluator extended its assessment and workflow capabilities with AI-powered evaluations based on computer vision analysis — shifting from expert-dependent, time-consuming manual reviews toward a faster, repeatable process that produces structured data and detailed ergonomic risk profiles from video. The integrated approach supported AI-powered risk identification, standardized assessment workflows, corrective action assignment and follow-up, baseline and follow-up comparison, and enterprise reporting across Baxter’s varied job tasks and sites.
Building an AI-Powered Ergonomics Assessment Capability Capable of Scaling Across a Complex Global Footprint
The assessment process begins with a video recording of an employee performing a task. Using AI and motion-analysis technology, the platform evaluates body posture, joint positioning, movement patterns, force application, and repetitive motion exposure — generating overall risk scores, color-coded risk indicators, upper- and lower-body risk evaluations, joint-specific risk analysis, and detailed kinematic and kinetic data. The output is not simply a risk score, but structured evidence of where within a task risk occurs and what changes may reduce exposure.
Faster Assessments, Greater Coverage, and More Targeted Risk Decisions
Baxter reported measurable operational improvements across its ergonomics program following adoption of Ergo Evaluator and 3Motion AI. The 62% improvement in assessment speed enabled the team to complete more than 100 assessments within the first 60 days of deployment — a volume that would have been difficult to achieve with manual-only methods. The 25% reduction in time and effort required to action ergonomic issues reflects the value of having assessment findings, corrective action creation, ownership assignment, and follow-up verification connected within a single workflow.
| Outcome | Reported Result |
|---|---|
| Ergonomic assessment speed improvement | 62% |
| Reduction in effort / time required to action issues | 25% |
| Assessments completed within first 60 days | 100+ |
| Projected reduction in average workers’ compensation cost | 45%* |
| Projected reduction in total workers’ compensation claims | 52%* |
* Projected outcomes described by Baxter as expectations based on current year-to-date trend data and broader ergonomic risk reduction efforts, not confirmed final results.
Beyond speed and volume, Baxter emphasized the shift toward more targeted decision-making. Rather than applying ergonomic improvements broadly across the enterprise, the team can now identify where risk concentrates within specific tasks, prioritize controls where they are most likely to reduce injury and cost, and use objective assessment data to support both operational and risk management decisions — including a more defensible basis for evaluating whether a work activity contributed to a workers’ compensation claim.
Operational Impact
“To be able to save that and focus on fixing the problems instead of analyzing the problems is going to be huge.”
Mike Day, Baxter
From Manual Ergonomic Reviews to AI-Powered Risk Intelligence
The following comparison reflects the operational and governance changes Baxter made across its ergonomics program — from assessment methodology and documentation practices to corrective action workflows and the evidentiary basis for workers’ compensation review.
| BEFORE | AFTER |
|---|---|
| Manual ergonomic assessments requiring approximately one hour per task | AI-powered video-based assessments with 62% faster completion |
| Subjective evaluator judgment with variable scoring across sites | Computer vision analysis producing standardized, consistent risk scores |
| Assessment data stored in spreadsheets, difficult to compare across locations | Centralized digital workflows with enterprise-wide benchmarking capability |
| Assessment findings managed separately from corrective action processes | Findings connected directly to Action Tracking System for assigned follow-up |
| Limited evidence available for workers’ compensation and claims review | Detailed task-level risk documentation supporting defensible claims decisions |
| Reactive identification of ergonomic concerns after injuries occurred | Earlier risk identification enabling targeted, prioritized intervention |
What Scaling AI Ergonomics Across a Global Enterprise Requires
Baxter’s experience surfaced several operational lessons relevant to organizations modernizing ergonomic risk management programs.
AI-Powered Ergonomics Assessment Is Becoming a Core Capability for Modern EHS Programs
Musculoskeletal disorders remain among the most persistent workplace health challenges across manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, distribution, and industrial operations. Many organizations continue to rely on manual assessment methods that are difficult to scale and often produce inconsistent results — creating programs where risk is identified unevenly and intervention prioritization depends on evaluator experience rather than objective data.
As organizations pursue more proactive approaches to injury prevention, AI-powered ergonomics assessment is emerging as an important capability for identifying risk earlier, standardizing evaluations across locations, and moving from reactive injury response toward deliberate, evidence-based intervention. The ability to generate structured task-level risk data at scale — and connect that data to corrective action workflows, workers’ compensation decisions, and enterprise reporting — is increasingly what separates mature ergonomics programs from those still relying on periodic manual reviews.
Baxter’s experience demonstrates how AI ergonomics software can help EHS teams move beyond subjective evaluations toward a more consistent and data-driven approach to managing ergonomic risk — one where objective assessment data supports faster intervention, stronger program accountability, and more defensible decision-making across the enterprise.
ORGANIZATION
Industry
Medical Technology / Manufacturing
Sites
160+ in 26 countries
Top Injury Type
Ergonomic / MSD
Ergonomic Injury Rate
45% of total injuries
Solutions Used
Ergo Evaluator
3Motion AI
Action Tracking System
TOPICS
AI Ergonomics
MSD Prevention
Workers’ Compensation
Corrective Action
Risk Management
Manufacturing Safety
Computer Vision
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