Are Back Belts Effective?

While OSHA does not prohibit the use of back belts, it doesn’t encourage their use, either. OSHA safety experts say that there is simply no reliable proof to support the effectiveness of back belts in the prevention of lower back injuries.

NIOSH, which has conducted extensive studies on the issue, concurs. NIOSH maintains there is insufficient evidence to require, or even recommend, the use of back belts in the workplace.

Workplace Study Discounts Belt Value

To examine the effects of back belt use on back injuries in the workplace, NIOSH conducted a large research project among material handlers in the retail industry. The study, published some years back in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that elastic support back belt use was not associated with reduced incidence of back injuries or lower back pain.

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Findings from the NIOSH study include the following:

• There was no statistically significant difference between the rates of back injuries among workers who wore back belts every day and workers who never wore back belts or wore them no more than once or twice a month.


• There was no statistically significant difference between the incidence of self-reported back pain among workers who wore back belts usually every day (17.1 percent) and the incidence of self-reported back pain among workers who never wore back belts or wore them no more than once or twice a month (17.5 percent).


• There was no statistically significant difference between the rate of back-related workers’ comp claims in stores requiring the use of back belts and the rate in stores where back belt use was voluntary.


• A history of back injury was the strongest risk factor for predicting either a back-injury claim or reported back pain among employees, regardless of back-belt use. The rate of back injury among those with a previous history of back pain was nearly twice as high as the rate among workers without a previous history of back pain.


• Even for employees in the most strenuous types of jobs, comparisons of back injury claims and self-reported back pain failed to show any differences in rates or incidence associated with back belt use.

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Other Research

However, a different result conclusion was reached in a laboratory evaluation conducted around the same time that examined human motion effects of the same back belt used in the material handlers study. The lab study found that the use of a back belt when lifting boxes significantly reduced the distance of forward spine bending and the velocities of forward and backward spine bending.

These results would seem to indicate that back belts might do some good after all. Unfortunately, the findings were not tested in the workplace and didn’t examine the association between back belt use and back injury or back pain. So this study does little to refute the views of OSHA and NIOSH concerning back belt use in the workplace.

What’s Better Than Belts?

Whichever side of the back belt issue you come down on, however, one thing is certain. Nothing replaces effective safe lifting training when it comes to preventing back injuries and back pain. Employees who are trained in proper lifting techniques can avoid injuries and don’t need to wear a back belt to do it.

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