Preventing health risks and improving quality of life at work: a business challenge, a no-brainer for Daucalis

The leading cause of occupational illness in France, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) affect many companies in all sectors of activity. More than 2 million people in France are overexposed to the risk of lower back pain in their daily work. (Source: Health Insurance)

Recognized for successfully carrying out exceptional projects, both in terms of the expected works and the constraints of intervention on generally occupied and ultra-secure sites, the Daucalis company cultivates a taste for challenge and asserts its uniqueness.

For Christophe Gaboriau, founder and co-director of Daucalis: "The recognition of our expertise leads us to undertake exceptional projects. To work on higher floors, we have always, whenever necessary and possible, supplied our joinery by crane – with a spider crane or a crane truck – in order to limit manual load carrying. However, with the expected demands of the projects entrusted to us, combining the tradition of wood and rare technical performance, we are required to produce increasingly heavy works. The average weight of our leaves installed on site is 120 kg and this can go up to 250 kg per leaf for monumental joinery. We must take into account these changes in load and physical constraints to protect the health of our employees and improve their working conditions."

From the glazing workshop to the installation of finished joinery on site

To combat the risk of musculoskeletal disorders among its employees and guarantee them working conditions that match the rarity of their skill level, the company has identified two areas for improvement: the installation of glazing in the workshop and the installation of joinery on site.

For Christophe Gaboriau: "In glazing, handling glass and glazed openings is becoming increasingly complicated due to the weight of technical glass (up to 150kg per volume). In addition, the creation of silicone flashings and the cleaning of glazing requires a forward leaning position, a posture that is difficult for the back. During installation, our workers must install joinery that is both difficult and delicate to handle. Beyond their dimensions and weight, the finishing of our joinery is generally carried out in the workshop to meet the constraints of a busy site with optimized intervention time; faced with the requirement of the expected care, it is therefore essentially to relieve the effort."

After several tests, and in consultation with its employees, Daucalis chose to invest in various handling assistance solutions, adapted to each identified problem:

• 1 posture exoskeleton in a glassworks workshop to reduce the load and tension on the muscles when working in a forward leaning position;
• 2 exoskeletons to reduce, when installing the woodwork, the forces acting on the back by distributing them over the thighs;
• 1 suction cup lifter for installing glazing in the workshop;
• 1 forklift for installing joinery with transom on heavy renovation site;
• 1 lifting trolley with suction cup spreader, on pneumatic wheels for handling glass panels on occupied construction sites.

Following this first phase of investment, totaling €42.750, Daucalis is already planning to acquire two additional exoskeletons to equip a second installation team.