Empowering Tomorrow’s Innovators: UW-Whitewater OESH Students Embark on a Transformative Collaboration with Johnson Health Tech

UW-Whitewater Occupational Safety students enrolled in Safety 481 (Analysis and Design for Safety in Industrial Operations) had an exciting opportunity to work on a real-world safety project during this fall semester. UW-Whitewater alum and current Environment, Health, and Safety Director for Johnson Health Tech, Eric Olson, reached out to safety professor Dr. Todd Loushine with a safety issue that students could research and present recommendations to management. Johnson Health Tech, headquartered in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin, is a global leader in the manufacturing and sale of high-quality exercise equipment. The project focuses on the delivery and installation of heavy and awkward exercise equipment into the customers’ homes without causing a significant strain on the delivery workers or incidental damage to the site. Eric was excited to provide this project to the students at his alma mater.  “It is important for me to give back to UW-Whitewater because I want to help influence the knowledge and skills that the students receive to ensure they are better prepared for their professional opportunities coming out of college.”

Johnson Health Tech provided the students with samples of their exercise equipment for testing, which made full use of the Safety Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Community Engagement Center. This lab includes all the necessary equipment for the safety students to perform tests in a safe and controlled environment.

Dr. Loushine is very grateful for all of the support on this project and is eager to see the impact his students have post-graduation. He said, “Having this lab,  the support of Johnson Health Tech,  Eric (Olson), and everybody else who contributes to  our program, our students are prepared to make an immediate impact after graduation.”

This project with Johnson Health Tech allowed these students to explore their careers before working for a company full-time. Senior Chase LaFernier said, “This project serves as an opportunity to get real-world experience. Get our hands in the lab and on a project. Working towards something that could actually help is exciting and something we haven’t gotten to experience yet.”

Senior Chris Gomez added that working on this project helped teach him about his future career in safety. “In this project, we’ve had a lot of dead ends and roadblocks. So we’ve had to make an attempt, start over, make an attempt, start over, maybe a dozen times. But that’s the real world. Everything is not going to be so linear and straightforward. It takes patience and perseverance to find success.”

Further discussing UW-Whitewater’s safety program, Tommy Hoy, a Senior Safety major, is delighted with the ample student support opportunities provided by the Occupational Environmental Safety and Health Department. These resources are instrumental in paving the way for his success. “The career fair is awesome. They set up an excellent opportunity for you to talk to people hiring right out of college.  After speaking with a rep at the career fair,  a company reached out to me asking if I would like an internship. Once I completed the internship, I had an interview with them, and now I will be working for them full-time post-graduation!” 

After a long semester of working towards a solution for Johnson Health Tech, the class has built a prototype. This device effectively allows the exercise equipment to be moved safely, providing reduced strain on the movers and allowing them to be hands-free to have better lift and moving control.  The class presented their entire study and demonstrated the prototype to the Johnson Health Tech Corporate on December 13th. 

Dr. Loushine is proud of how the project has turned out and looks forward to continuing this work next semester. He said, “This has been an extremely valuable learning experience for the students, and I think we have a great idea. The next step is to fabricate it and take it into the field for testing.  I’m teaching this class next semester, and I want those students to be working with people out in the field, testing this equipment, documenting findings, and making adjustments and instructions/training for movers. There is plenty of room to grow this project to make things more effective and safer for Johnson Health Tech.”

Congratulations to Dr. Todd Loushine and his safety students on all of the work they have done so far! We are excited to see where this project goes next!

Learn more about the UW-Whitewater College of Business and Economics Occupational Safety department here! 

Editor’s note: The above press release was received from the UW-Whitewater College of Business and Economics.