Back Injuries: Eliminate the ‘Usual Suspects’

According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, back injuries account for nearly 20 percent of all injuries and illnesses in the workplace, affecting more than 1 million workers annually.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) says that back injuries cost the nation an estimated $20 billion to $50 billion per year. One-fourth of all compensation indemnity claims involve back injuries.

NIOSH believes that the most effective way to prevent back injuries is to implement an ergonomics program that focuses on redesigning the work environment and work tasks to reduce back hazards.

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All the safety training you need in one program: 25 subjects, one low price. It’s BLR’s Safety Training Presentations. Try it at no cost.

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Round Up the Usual Suspects

According to OSHA’s Technical Manual: Back Disorders and Injuries, back injuries result from exceeding the capability of muscles, tendons, disks, or from the cumulative effect of several contributors, including:

• Reaching while lifting
• Poor posture (how one sits or stands)
• Staying in one position for too long
• How one lifts, pushes, pulls, or carries objects
• Losing the strength and endurance to perform physical tasks without strain
• Poor design of job or workstation
• Repetitive lifting of awkward items, equipment, or patients in healthcare facilities
• Twisting while lifting
• Bending while lifting
• Maintaining bent postures
• Heavy lifting
• Fatigue
• Poor footing, such as slippery floors, or constrained posture
• Lifting with forceful movement
• Vibration, such as with forklift and delivery truck operators

How to ‘Back Up’ Your Back Safety Program

If you’re thinking of revamping your back safety program, here are a few tips to facilitate your efforts:

• Encourage employees to let you know if work is causing them discomfort.
• Pay attention to their concerns and investigate them. If necessary, bring in a professional to conduct an assessment.
• If you have a safety committee in place, consider developing an ergonomics subcommittee. Get members the training they need, and charge them with specific tasks, including research.
• Look for low-cost resources, like risk management services provided by your workers’ compensation carrier, an ergonomics expert from a local college, programs developed by a trade group or labor union, or your OSHA area office.
• If you opt for outside expertise, choose carefully. Hire experience and a proven track record, check references, and look for appropriate education and designation or certification.

And, of course, use a premier safety resource like BLR’s Safety Training Presentations to train your workers in back safety and injury prevention.

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Try Safety Training Presentations at no cost and no risk. Find out more.

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Train, Train, Train

If you’re like most employers, back pain in the workplace means a pain in the neck for you. It’s just one more safety problem you could certainly do without. And you can!

Unlike some workplace safety problems, back injuries have a simple solution. With the right back safety training, your employees can be injury- and pain-free. And that means that pain in your neck—and bottom line—will go away, too.

The right back safety training for your workers is the “Back Safety” session in BLR’s Safety Training Presentations. And the best part is that this session is just 1 of 25 core safety presentations, each one responsive to either an OSHA training requirement or to common causes of workplace accidents. All are customizable, so you can add your specific hazards or safety policies.

Each lesson also includes completion certificates, sign-in sheets, evaluation forms, and training records. In short, it contains everything you need to motivate, reinforce, retain, and transfer new knowledge—and document that you did so.

The topics covered include:

• Bloodborne Pathogens
• Back Safety
• Emergency Action
• Ergonomics
• Fire Prevention
• PPE
• Welding/Cutting/Brazing
• Portable Power Tool Safety
• Scaffolds
• Lockout/Tagout
• Forklift Operator Safety
• Confined Space Safety
• Fall Protection
• Respiratory Protection
• and more!

Of course, training needs change as OSHA introduces new requirements or as new work practices and technologies bring new hazards. To cover this, you receive a new CD every 90 days that you’re in the program, each containing five additional or updated topics.

Just as important for those on a budget (and who isn’t these days?), the cost of these presentations works out to under $20 each.

We’ve arranged for Advisor subscribers to get a no-cost, no-obligation look at Safety Training Presentations for 30 days. Feel free to try a few lessons with your own trainees. Please let us know, and we’ll be glad to set it up.

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