Aldi

Rudy has worked at Aldi for thirty-six years. “I’ve seen a lot of changes in terms of safety,” he reveals. Yet the IDEWE Group has been ever-present, as Aldi has been a customer since 1968. “I have a good relationship with employees of the IDEWE Group. The personal contact makes us the perfect fit.”

Co-creation leads to efficient solutions

“Sustainable employment is important to Aldi,” says Rudy. “As locomotor complaints are common in our industry, we focus heavily on ergonomics. We create instructional videos and brochures together with the IDEWE Group to raise awareness among our staff. We also organise ergonomics training courses to help them put that knowledge into practice.”

When we switched to voice-controlled order picking, the IDEWE Group was available to offer advice and assistance at every stage of the project

“Our warehouses have recently made the switch to voice-controlled order picking. We carried out a thorough risk assessment alongside IDEWE’s experts to make sure everything ran smoothly.” Instead of reading orders on a screen or on paper, employees now hear short orders through headphones. “This means our warehouse staff have their hands free to lift boxes in an ergonomic way.”

“The IDEWE Group was available to offer advice and assistance at every stage of the project. Even when tests showed that the system wasn’t yet up to date, the expert quickly found a solution.”

Teach your logistics staff the art of lifting

One in five employees in logistics and retail suffer from locomotor complaints. However, they keep their knees, back and shoulders flexible by using the correct techniques. If you’d like to teach your employees these techniques, the IDEWE Group’s ‘physical load’ workshop is a short, effective training course tailored to their workload.

Discover the workshop

Ergonomics solutions from the top shelf

Ergonomics challenges are also being addressed in the stores. “Our range is bigger than ever," says Rudy. “Nevertheless, we try to use as little as possible of the shelves that are hardest to reach; the shelves all the way up at the top and all the way down at the bottom. Our solution was to instruct our manufacturers to pack as many items as possible in narrow, elongated boxes. This change allows us to make full use of the shelf depth and place more products next to each other at the heights that are easiest to reach.”

We now have 40% more employees than ten years ago, yet the number of reports of locomotor complaints has remained roughly the same.

“The law requires us to review our occupational risks every five years," says Rudy. “However, we’ve opted for a dynamic risk assessment with the IDEWE Group. If the infrastructure needs to be adapted, we'll research the consequences of any changes in detail, and take the appropriate measures to counteract any risks.” This approach is paying off. “In the last ten years, our staff numbers have increased from 5,000 to 7,000. Yet the number of locomotor complaints reported has remained roughly the same.”

That said, employees who do develop complaints are monitored closely. “The IDEWE Group employs nursing experts who are trained to recognise locomotor complaints. They monitor our employees who do a lot of lifting every year”, explains Rudy. Employees are asked about any complaints and carry out a number of exercises to challenge their mobility, which they are then scored on. If they get a low score, the occupational doctor will invite the employee to attend an additional check-up. The IDEWE ergonomist will also analyse the employee’s workstation and suggest a few tips on how it can be optimised.”
 

Friendly atmosphere

Aldi has worked with the IDEWE Group to carry out the legally required risk assessment on psychosocial aspects for several years now. “Our first RAPSi produced interesting results," says Rudy. “Representatives from all over the country and across all professions were given the opportunity to speak up and help formulate the action items. Together, we analysed the results of the RAPSi in detail and discussed them in working groups. This allowed us to increase our focus on internal communication. We now give employees more information about what’s going on outside of their department. Meetings held between the different departments at our seven sites ensure that colleagues can also learn from other staff on another site.”

Finding and retaining good staff requires you to keep your finger on the pulse and monitor wellbeing within your organisation closely. RAPSi is a standardised questionnaire developed by the IDEWE Group in collaboration with KU Leuven. It enables you to map out the wellbeing of your employees using an objective, numerical and scientifically substantiated approach, and take targeted action.

Curious about the state of well-being in your organization?

Get a clear picture with RAPSi.

Good relationships are a plus

“One of IDEWE’s major assets is that they have offices all over the country”, says Rudy. “Although IDEWE is split up into regions, we have a central coordination team. This means we always work with the same experts in the areas of occupational medicine, ergonomics, psychosocial aspects and occupational safety. It also means you get to know each other better and we can work together more efficiently.”

“I meet with Paul, my regular contact at IDEWE, every month to go through the action items. If I run into a challenge earlier, however, I call him and he puts me in touch with an expert straight away”, says Rudy.

“The coordination team also takes a proactive approach. The experts don’t simply wait for us to come up with a question. They always keep us informed of any changes in legislation and make suggestions themselves. This personal approach saves us a lot of time. And it also makes work a lot more pleasant, of course!” [laughs]