Safe Lifting: The Key to Back Safety

With millions of workers affected by back problems and, as reported yesterday, an annual loss to business of some $60 billion due to this malady, it makes sense for employers to look for ways to help employees avoid injuries.

Yesterday, we reviewed some engineering, administrative, and PPE answers to avoiding strain on workers’ backs. Today, let’s look at solutions workers can implement themselves, at work or at home (where, incidentally most back injuries happen).

Much of this material comes from the BLR training program, Interactive CD Course: Back Safety. It’s a self-contained, self-paced way to quickly let workers know how easy it is to prevent a pain that could trouble them all their lives. Here’s some of the information it imparts.

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BLR’s Interactive CD Course: Back Safety can provide the training workers need to make your company gain without anyone suffering the pain. Try it at no cost or risk. Click for more info.

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The Anatomy of a Back. The back may appear solid and strong but, in fact, it’s built of many intricate and delicate parts … some 33 vertebrae, 300 muscles, various types of connective tissue, and 30 cushioning pads, called discs, that ease movement of bone against bone as we bend, rise, twist, and turn. Displacement of one of these cushions— the often talked about “slipped” disc—lets the bones grind on nerves, creating back pain.

Strain vs. Sprain. These terms are often used interchangeably but they’re not the same. A strain is the overuse of a muscle. A sprain is a tear of connective tissues such as ligaments. Both of these injuries tend to develop over time. The more improper use of the back continues, the more chance they’ll appear. Rest and conservative treatments usually cure them.

Posture Counts. Because the back’s structures weigh on each other, all must be in proper alignment so that weight flows downward as it should. Slouching or slumping when standing, walking, or sitting disturbs that alignment over time, often causing injury.

Learning to Lift. Many back injuries happen while attempting to lift or manually move loads. Here are some key guidelines for lifting:

Plan the lift in advance. Know the load’s weight (call for help when it’s too heavy for one person), plan the route to the new location to avoid obstacles, and be sure there’s room to place the load when you get there. “The shortest route may not be the best route,” BLR experts warn. Also be sure the object does not block your visibility while carrying it. And if you need to move it off a high shelf, get a stepstool. Never try to remove a heavy object by stretching your arms out over your head.

Use proper body mechanics in lifting. That means letting your legs, not your back, do the work. Stand feet apart, close to the load, bend the knees, grasp the object close to the body, and lift upwards from the legs and buttocks. Never simply bend over to start a lift.

Unload properly. Face the spot you’ve chosen and lower the load slowly, again bending your knees while keeping your back straight, until the weight of the load rests on the ground. Then slide it into its final location.

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Try BLR’s Interactive CD Course: Back Safety at no cost or risk. Click for details.

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If your employees (and your organization) could benefit from workers’ learning to protect their backs, our editors strongly recommend evaluating Interactive CD Course: Back Safety.

Its 40 full-color slides are interactive, involving, written in plain language, and relevant to both office and plant workers. It’s also self-testing to be sure the material is learned, as the program can’t be completed until all answers are given correctly. Success is immediately rewarded with a Certificate of Achievement the trainee can print out, right on the spot.

To try Interactive CD Course: Back Safety at no cost or risk for up to a month (including use with some of your workers), click here and we’ll make all the arrangements.