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Back Injuries

5 Ways to Protect Workers from Back Injuries

Complaints about back pain can be heard in every workplace the world over, no matter the setting or industry. The ubiquity of this refrain can make it feel like an inevitability. Back pain is so omnipresent that, according to a New York Times health guide, it is listed as the second biggest reason that people…

4 Winter and Holiday Safety Toolbox Talk Topics for December

The month of December brings a lot of things, most notably the holidays—there’s Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s Eve and a number of parties to mark the occasions. But December also brings a long list of recurring incidents and injuries year after year. The good news is you can protect your workers by delivering some well-prepared…

4 Unspoken Hazards of Waste Collection

Every day, waste collectors face a number of hazards that range from vermin to chemical poisoning. In fact, refuse and recyclable materials collection is one of the most dangerous jobs in the U.S. and most employees in this industry are likely to get injured at some point in their working lives.  One of the most…

4 Common Safety Issues in the Aviation Industry

Among the many workplace hazards that affect aviation workers, falls and back injuries are the most common. The industry shares a lot of similarities with other sectors where people frequently trip and fall or hurt their backs despite engineering precautions and training on correct lifting techniques. When rushing or complacent, people are likely to ignore…

4 Major Causes of Workplace Back Injuries (and What to Do About Them)

Back injuries are a major concern in workplaces around the world, and with good reason—even minor back pain can alter a person’s quality of life, and can dramatically affect workplace productivity and morale. If it worsens, there are also compensation costs to consider should the worker be forced to take time off. The best offense…

4 Back Injury Prevention Resources

Back pain is such a prevalent issue that it’s one of the top two reasons why people visit the doctor. It’s no surprise then that plenty of resources have been produced to help combat back issues in the workplace. From standard-issue guidelines to how human factors can compromise back safety, these four resources provide a…

Teach (and Practice) Safe Lifting Techniques

This is an excerpt from the article “5 Ways to Beat Back Pain” originally published in the Summer 2015 issue of The Leader. Too many back training programs consist of gathering employees in a room once a year, showing a 10-minute DVD with outdated footage and then sending them back to work once it’s over.…

Why You Should Start Clocking Employees’ Stretch Breaks

Everyone knows proper stretch breaks are important. But few people take them with regularity, and almost no one does as frequently as they should. Which is a shame, because providing muscles with adequate rest will prevent repetitive strain and is a key feature of long-term back health. Fortunately, one small tweak to safety reporting can…

Why Lifting Technique Matters

This is an excerpt from our free back injuries guide. You don’t need to look any further than your local playground to see how small loads can have such a large impact on the back. Seesaws are a lot like the human body. They have a stable centre and limbs that extend to carry sizeable…

3 Ways to Use Our Back Guide

We recently released our free guide on re-thinking back injuries. It covers all the traditional areas of back safety, like proper lifting techniques, the consequences of hurting your back, and weight thresholds for safe lifting. It also outlines human factors issues and an under-discussed problem with back belts. And it provides a few other practical…

The Link Between Shoveling Snow and Workplace Back Injuries

For many of us living in the northern United States and Canada, snow is an unavoidable reality of winter. With the amount of time spent shoveling the driveway and scraping ice off the car, few people want to give any more thought to snow than they have to. But that means it’s especially important to…

5 Ways to Beat Back Pain

Back pain is a serious issue for millions of people. In fact, it’s the most-cited body part for missing time at work, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. As their frequency suggests, back injuries are a notoriously difficult type of injury for safety professionals to effectively solve. A recent article titled 5 Ways…