Back injuries are a leading cause of lost time, second only to the common cold! The majority of back injuries occur during lifting tasks and these injuries can be very costly to businesses in terms of lost productivity and insurance claims. In the short term, a back injury can cause serious aches and pains to the employee, but in the long term it can have a devastating effect on the employee’s lifestyle and ability to work. To reduce back injuries in the workplace, we must first take a look at some of the main causes:
Insufficient training: It’s easy to assume that everyone has an intuitive sense of how to lift and carry objects and knows how much they can safely lift on their own. However, back injuries are extremely common and many people do not understand the consequences of improper lifting and how they can do it safely. Any workplace that requires employees to lift heavy objects should cover proper techniques as part of basic safety training.
Improper Lifting: It is essential that everyone start with proper safety training, but knowledge of and commitment to safe work practices can fade over time. Employees can become complacent with their lifting and develop bad habits that erode their technique and can result in injury. Reinforcement of safe lifting principles is important and supervisors or colleagues should correct employees who use improper techniques. Safety reminders should be frequent but also varied so they don’t lose their impact. Consider reminding employees through a combination of email reminders, safety meetings, and workplace safety advisories to keep safety top of mind.
Not appreciating risk: If employees regularly lift things in the course of their work, they can become desensitized to risk. This makes them more likely to make mistakes like lifting with poor posture, twisting while lifting, or lifting objects that are too heavy. If an employee hasn’t experienced a back injury before and felt the pain himself, he may not realize the debilitating results he’s risking with poor lifting technique. Your safety training should explain how back injuries often become a chronic problem that can limit not only your ability to work, but also your ability to perform basic tasks like getting out of a chair or playing with your children. As an employer, you need to make sure that workers understand your load limit and why they must follow it. It’s also important to schedule work to allow for breaks and create a balanced workday where employees aren’t continually working on physically demanding tasks.
Rushing – Tight deadlines and long work days can leave employees feeling rushed, and as a result, the technical survey can be compromised. Many injuries occur when employees are under pressure and in a hurry because back strain is the last thing on their minds. Sometimes tight deadlines and workplace stress are unavoidable, but by understanding how that affects safety and back health, you can try to schedule work appropriately and better support the safety of your workers.
Remember that any type of safety training is only as good as its reinforcement. Regular reminders of proper lifting techniques are critical to preventing employees from developing bad habits, and everyone should be encouraged to observe and correct unsafe work practices. Some essential do’s and don’ts for safe lifting include:
Do:
• Try to eliminate manual lifting whenever possible.
• Stay in good physical shape.
• Make sure you have a good grip on any item you are lifting.
• Test the weight and balance of the item to be lifted.
• Ask for help if an item is too heavy or difficult to lift safely.
• Keep the lifted object close to your body.
• Stand in a stable position and lift mostly by straightening your legs.
Whose:
• Twist or bend sideways when lifting.
• Lifting or lowering an object from an awkward position.
• Lift or lower an object with your arms outstretched.
• Try and continue to lift an object if you realize it is too heavy.
• Lift anything above your shoulders or below your knees.