Back injury

The human spine and associated muscles are particularly vulnerable to some types of injury, being both a highly flexible structure and subject to a great deal of stress as the main load-bearer of the torso.

Preventing back pain is a major workplace safety challenge. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than one million workers suffer back injuries each year, and back injuries account for one of every five workplace injuries or illnesses. Further, one-fourth of all compensation indemnity claims involve back injuries, costing industry billions of dollars on top of the pain and suffering borne by employees.

Moreover, though lifting, placing, carrying, holding and lowering are involved in manual materials handling (the principal cause of compensable work injuries) the BLS survey shows that four out of five of these injuries were to the lower back, and that three out of four occurred while the employee was lifting.

No approach has been found for totally eliminating back injuries caused by lifting, though it is felt that a substantial portion can be prevented by an effective control program and ergonomic design of work tasks.

Suggested administrative controls include:

1. Strength testing of existing workers, which one study showed can prevent up to one-third of work-related injuries by discouraging the assignment of workers to jobs that exceed their strength capabilities.
2. Training employees to utilize lifting techniques that place minimum stress on the lower back.
3. Physical conditioning or stretching programs to reduce the risk of muscle strain.

In a recent study it was determined that up to one-third of compensable back injuries could be prevented through better job design (ergonomics).

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Back Injury"