Chris Back and Aaron Fader grinned widely as they stood looking at a streamlined, metal box on the table.

After years of planning, developing and testing, it was a satisfying moment to see the result: a new automated, ergonomic pill crusher, designed specifically with healthcare workers in mind. Fader’s Cougar Mountain Marketing Corporation had just signed an agreement with OHSAH to bring the device to market.

As OHSAH’s Director of Injury Prevention, Chris Back was motivated to help frontline workers who sustained injuries while using manual pill crushers, to prepare medications for patients who have difficulty swallowing.

To understand the environment and identify all the risk factors of pill crushing, OHSAH partnered with BCIT Health Technology Research Group.

“We first did a study in acute care and long term care facilities, and learned that, with manual pill crushers, nurses are essentially using a hammer to break pills,” explained BCIT Industrial Designer Brian Keane. “80 lbs of force is needed to crush a pill with a lever-type device. Awkward postures are required to operate them (often on high medication carts) which can lead to repetitive strain injuries in the hands, wrists and shoulders. Dust inhalation, which occurs during the crushing process, is also a problem.”

With the health and safety expertise at OHSAH and the design expertise at BCIT, their respective teams set to work solving the problem by designing and testing a number of prototypes.

The new pill crusher had to meet stringent criteria. In addition to being durable, strong, quiet, easy to clean and maintain, it had to crush pills into powder form within 20 seconds, control the powder dispersal, prevent cross contamination of different medications and be compatible with existing medication carts.

Under OHSAH’s leadership and guidance, five prototypes were made and tested until the successful option was presented for feedback, to union and representatives from all BC health authorities, as well as industry and WorkSafeBC health and safety specialists.

The new device not only met the requirements, with the push of a button, its built in safety features prevented fingers from being accidentally crushed.

With the group’s enthusiastic endorsement, Chris secured a patent and a partner to manufacture an affordable new pill crusher. Enter Cougar Mountain Marketing Corporation, who will bring the device – weighing approximately seven pounds and measuring eight inches high - to market in spring 2010.

“I was excited about the research and testing that had been done to create the prototype,” says Cougar Mountain President Aaron Fader. “They had solved all the problems - specifically to lessen wear and tear and inhalation of dust…it’s superior to anything else out there.”

For Chris, especially, it is a result worth smiling about. For more information on the automated pill crusher, please contact

Chris Back
chrisb@ohsah.bc.ca or

 Aaron Fader
aaron@cougarmm.com