Tag: back injuries

Tips to Preventing Back Injuries in Your Warehouse

Warehouse worker loading up a pallet in a large warehouse
Preventing Back Injuries

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, back injuries account for almost 20 percent of total workplace injuries and illnesses. Only the common cold causes more loss of manpower hours.

Are Back Injuries Affecting Your Company’s Productivity?

Back injuries negatively impact your company through expensive medical claims and reduced efficiency. Implementing safety tips will reduce the risk of back injuries that lead to temporary or permanent loss of employees.

• Take periodic breaks to stretch your muscles, especially if you spend long periods of time in one position.

• Avoid lifting whenever possible by keeping boxes and other objects up off the floor.

• When you do need to lift, bend your knees and let your legs do the work.

• Pushing is easier on your back than pulling. Use carts and dollies to move heavy objects.

Dumpster Movers from DJ Products Create a Safer Workplace

Dumpsters are some of the heaviest and bulkiest items that need to be moved. One of our clients discovered that this activity was the cause of a high number of workplace injuries, limiting their maintenance staff and impacting resident satisfaction. In response, they changed their policy to require that dumpsters must be moved by two employees unless one was using a battery-powered tug.

Another client found that our dumpster movers are “like having another employee on staff!” Instead of having two employees handle the task, one uses a dumpster mover, which frees up the other to respond to resident requests.

Visit our website and chat with one of our sales engineers to learn more about why our dumpster movers are the solution to your workplace back injury problems.

Hospitality Industry: Tips on Preventing Back Injuries

Preventing Back Injuries
Preventing Back Injuries

Hotel staff face many of the same injury risks as warehouse and shipping workers — especially when it comes to the repetitive tasks of moving equipment and supply carts. Proper techniques and ergonomic hospitality industry carts help reduce the risk of back injuries and upper body fatigue.

Here are some tips from Oklahoma State University researchers that hospitality staff should keep in mind when training and managing employees:

Store all items on shelves. Supply closets should always make use of shelving to keep items up off the ground.

Place heavy items in the easy lifting zone. The heaviest items should be placed at waist level to reduce back strain when picking them up. Items close to the floor or above the head should be the lightest weight items.

Bend at the knees. Like a baseball catcher getting into position, workers should squat to pick things up by bending at the knees with the feet at shoulder width.

Get a good grip. Reaching out and grabbing things with the fingertips sends more stress through the upper body than firmly grasping objects with the whole hand.

Face forward. When loading up a cart, workers should face the item being picked up and then turn (not twist) to face the cart.

Use motorized carts. Hotel workers who push or pull supply carts up and down the hallways face back injury risk from long-term, repetitive stress. Hospitality industry carts with motorized operation take this out of the equation.

For help reducing back injuries among employees, follow our blog for materials handling tips and check out DJProducts.com for info about ergonomic hospitality industry carts.

The Cost of Ignoring Ergonomics

Back in industry’s dark ages, equipment was designed to do a task without much thought to the comfort or safety of the worker who would be operating it. Back injuries, tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome and other stress and repetitive motion injuries were an aggravating and often debilitating part of the job. The toll wasn’t just on the workers, industry paid a price in decreased productivity, poor product quality, increased medical and workers’ compensation costs, low morale and high absenteeism. The annual price tag for workplace injury and illness is estimated at $171 billion.

That’s a pretty hefty price tag considering that America spends about $170 billion a year on cancer and $164 billion on cardiovascular disease, the country’s two biggest killers. According to an American Medical Association study, each year in America there are 6,500 deaths from workplace injuries and more than 60,000 deaths from workplace-related diseases. Non-fatal workplace injuries number 13.2 million annually with 862,000 illnesses. That’s a staggering price in human suffering and industry dollars. The total cost of workplace injuries is nearly equal to the combined annual profits of America’s 20 largest companies.

But that’s just part of the picture. Workers’ compensation claims already cost American businesses $60 billion annually, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. More than 50% of those claims are for back injuries from lifting, pulling, pushing and straining, says the National Council on Compensation Insurance. In fact, workplace back injuries, which involve lengthy and costly treatment, affect more than 1.75 million workers each year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Add in the estimated time-lost cost per injury of $26,000 per incident and the prevention of a single injury can result in an immediate savings of $26,000.

This staggering cost and the desire to provide American workers with healthier and safer working conditions gave rise to ergonomics and the beginning of a radical change in the way industry approaches equipment design.

Next time: The rise of ergonomics in industrial design.