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Back Injury Prevention <br />Causes of back injury <br />Pulling, twisting, and slipping are the most common causes of back injuries. Lifting objects <br />improperly can also hurt the back. Lifting with the back and not the legs, lifting from an awkward <br />position, or trying to move material too large for one person can lead to injury. <br />Even simple movements can cause back injury. Stepping from a truck, bending over for a small <br />tool, or over -reaching can strain back muscles. <br />Table 1 below ranks the most frequent causes of back injury in tree care in descending order. <br />Muscle strains and sprains — soft <br />tissue injuries - cause most arborists' <br />back problems. These are temporary <br />injuries. More important, strains and <br />sprains usually precede more serious, <br />chronic and debilitating injuries to <br />the ligaments, discs and vertebrae. In <br />a sense, soft tissue injuries are <br />warning signals that more serious, <br />permanent injury could occur. <br />Therefore your back injury <br />prevention program should focus on <br />preventing strains and sprains. <br />Preventive measures <br />Arborists can keep their backs <br />healthy with stretching and exercise, <br />by knowing how the back works, and <br />by using simple lifting techniques. <br />Here are attainable objectives for <br />your company's back injury <br />prevention program: <br />Lifting... <br />large objects <br />irregularly-shaped objects <br />over the shoulder <br />Twisting .. . <br />while feeding brush into a chipper <br />while positioning in a bucket or a tree <br />while dragging brush, reaching, using long poles <br />from sudden slips due to poor ground conditions <br />on slippery equipment in snow or rain <br />Jumping... <br />off truck bed or out of truck cab <br />over fences <br />off ladders <br />out of trees <br />Pulling... <br />ropes <br />hangers <br />trees. on removals <br />Provide continuous training for all employees to raise their <br />awareness of how the back can be injured. <br />Develop action steps employees can use to detect and eliminate <br />conditions likely to cause back injury — see this program's <br />sections on hazard reporting (16), safety committees (23), job <br />hazard assessment (15) and job briefings (17). <br />Motivate employees to take responsibility for back safety at work <br />and at home. <br />12 <br />