Back and lifting injuries

Back injuries are one of the leading causes of wasting time, second only to the common cold! Most back injuries occur during lifting tasks and these injuries can be very costly to businesses in lost productivity and insurance claims. In the short term, a back injury can cause severe discomfort and pain to the employee, but in the long term it can have a devastating effect on the employee’s lifestyle and work capacity. To reduce back injuries in the workplace, we must first 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 safely lift objects. Any workplace that requires employees to lift heavy objects must cover proper techniques as part of basic safety training.

Improper Lifting: It is essential that everyone starts with the proper safety training, but knowledge and commitment to safe work practices can fade over time. Employees can become complacent when lifting objects and develop bad habits that erode their technique and can result in injury. Enforcement of lifting safety principles is important and supervisors or colleagues must correct employees using 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 notices to make safety a priority.

Failure to appreciate risk: If employees regularly lift things in the course of their work, they can become insensitive to risk. This makes them more prone to making mistakes like lifting objects with poor posture, twisting while lifting, or lifting objects that are too heavy. If an employee has not experienced a back injury before and felt the pain on their own, they may not realize the debilitating results of 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 such as getting out of a chair or playing with your children. As an employer, you need to ensure that workers understand your lift limit and why they must adhere to it. It’s also important to schedule work to allow for breaks and to create a balanced work day in which employees are not continually working on physically demanding tasks.

Rushing – Tight deadlines and long work hours can make employees feel rushed and lifting technique can be compromised as a result. Many injuries occur when employees are under pressure and in a hurry because back strain is the last thing on their mind. Sometimes tight deadlines and workplace stress are unavoidable, but by understanding how that affects back health and safety, 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 falling into bad habits, and everyone should be encouraged to monitor and correct unsafe work practices. Some of the dos and don’ts to safely lift include:

Make:

• Try to eliminate manual lifting whenever possible.

• Stay in good physical shape.

• Make sure you have a good grip on any object you lift.

• Test the weight and balance of the item to be lifted.

• Get help if an item is too heavy or difficult to lift safely.

• Keep the object you are lifting close to your body.

• Stand in a stable position and lift mainly by straightening your legs.

Whose:

• Twist or bend sideways when lifting.

• Lifting or lowering an object from an awkward position.

• Raise or lower an object if your arms are extended.

• Try and continue lifting an object if you find it too heavy.

• Lift anything above the shoulders or below the knees.