How Back Injuries Occur And Top Ways To Prevent Them

Back injuries are common accidents that occur in construction areas. They mostly happen due to heavy lifting and, in some cases, due to mishaps. These injuries greatly affect general workplace productivity and efficiency.

Therefore, to deal with this scourge more efficiently, you need to first understand how it comes into play. Most companies and employers compensate workers who get such injuries and, this costs them a lot of money. Instead, you can take measures to prevent your employees from injuring themselves. Here are some ways of how back injuries occur and methods to counter them: 

1. Through improper lifting techniques 

Poor lifting habits at a construction site can derail the performance of one’s back. If you lift heavy items inaccurately, you can obtain severe and fatal injuries. It would be helpful for employees to be coached on the importance of proper lifting techniques. Otherwise, they may repeat the same mistakes. Besides, it would be best if employees have a supervisor at every workstation to ensure that these rules are correctly implemented. It will cost you more to pay up compensation funds than to hire a supervisor to handle the construction safety of your workers while on the site.

Have machinery do most of the heavy lifting, rather than workers on the site. If you can afford to have one or two lifting equipment on-site, ensure that they help with the heavy loads, while workers carry only what they can handle. Again, it is worth spending on these types of machinery than being liable for hefty compensation fees.

2. Insufficient training 

Most of the time, the accidents and injuries that take place on a construction site happen due to inadequate training for workers. You should never assume that safety is common knowledge. Not everyone knows how to keep himself or herself safe when working; thus, the importance and necessity for training. This applies to all areas in the construction zone, including high regions.

The work at height course for workers is one significant training that helps to alleviate back injuries by securing workers. A lot can happen when working in high areas, including items falling on your back. This course shows workers how to move around while on their duties. It teaches them how to prevent falls, trips and slips when they are on high grounds. In addition, workers are also taught how to deal with any emergencies if they should occur.

It is equally imperative to train workers on the right ways of lifting heavy items, to reduce back pains and injuries. Educate and inform them on how much they can sustain per lifting and the importance of not exceeding the set maximum. You can make this a mandatory training during the orientation process of each worker on site. Prevention is definitely better than cure.

3. Rushing and irritation 

Sometimes a long day at work can make someone frustrated and anxious to go home. However, there may be a required number of items to move around by the end of the day. The pressure to do so and to rush home may cause many workers to tend to exceed their lifting load amount. The best way to deal with this situation is to avoid building unnecessary pressure on employees. This will help them be less anxious when working.