Overexertion Injuries What they are How they happen How they can be prevented

In this Slide Show What are overexertion injuries? How do overexertion injuries occur? What are the causes of overexertion injuries? What do people say who have had overexertion injuries? Some helpful guidelines for reducing overexertion risk. Links

What is an Overexertion Injury? Overexertion injuries generally fall into two categories: Sprains – stretching or tearing ligaments Strains – stretching or tearing tendons or muscles Muscles – the tissue responsible for movement of joints. They are attached to bone by tendons, and shorten to create movement of a joint. inter-vertebral muscle tendon-muscle junction Tendons – the tough connective tissue which connects muscle to bone Ligaments – very tough connective tissue which connect bone to bone, and hold the tendons in place and stabilize the joints.

How do Overexertion Injuries Occur? Overexertion occurs when the load, whether lifted, carried, pushed, pulled or otherwise handled, exceeds the limits of the human joint system doing the work. In this case the “lower back”

Causes of Overexertion Injuries Overexertion injuries have been associated with these activities: lifting repeated bending at the waist bending at the waist with twisting long term bending at the waist pushing/pulling carrying reaching long term poor posture - sitting or standing sitting while absorbing vibration through the body (as in truck driving)

Personal Factors Some personal factors have been associated with overexertion injuries: aging and its loss of body flexibility (becoming stiff) poor physical condition - losing the strength and endurance to perform physical tasks without strain. overweight

What do people say who have had overexertion injuries? …that they were: 1. moving quickly to perform the task 2. positioned in an awkward posture So… Perform the task twice: Once With Your Mind and Once With Your Body As you think about the task, determine what has to be done to perform it safely and then follow through.

Some Helpful Guidelines for Reducing Overexertion Risk

Good Techniques For Lifting: Assess the weight of the load (by observing or pushing). Make sure your footing is stable and the path is clear. Bend at the knees. Hug the load (keep the load as close to the body as possible). Keep the back straight. Avoid twisting. Avoid heavy loads (lighten if possible). Get help with heavy loads.

Ideas for proper carrying: If there is a mechanical device like a hand truck or pallet jack…use it! (the more you carry something, the greater the chance that you can be injured) If there are no mechanical devices… Keep the load as close to the body as possible. Better to take more loads of less weight than try to take it all at once.

Ideas for reducing reaching This bin has fold down door so the worker can get the product with less bending Remove obstacles Slide closer An adjustable height pallet jack with a turntable would allow this worker to turn and raise the load to get the product, instead of reaching. Reduce shelf depth and try to store products between knee and shoulder height Reduce package size

Ideas for reducing reaching Slide objects closer The person in the bottom picture is using a stick with a hook, to pull products closer for access

Reducing reaching Reduce shelf depth Install gravity feed racks While it’s possible to simply reduce the depth of shelves (you could even put empty boxes in the back to keep the full ones near the front) you also give up some storage space this way, or you have to buy a lot of narrow shelving units. Gravity flow racks can be a good solution, since they allow you to store a lot of boxes on a single deep rack. They use a variety of types of rollers that allow boxes to roll forward as the front box is taken away. They need to be carefully designed so that the boxes towards the back aren’t pressing too heavily on the box in front, making it difficult to take out. The examples shown are designed to fit into existing standard racks, so new gravity flow racks won’t need to be purchased and installed. The costs of these systems range from about $60 per lane to a little over $200 per lane depending on depth and width of lanes. Install gravity feed racks

Ideas for reducing lifting hazards Use mechanical assistance Team lifting Use a mobile ladder

Ideas for reducing lifting hazards This is a mobile scissors lift. Products can be removed from pallets or shelves and transported with no lifting. This is a mobile, height adjustable (electric motor) platform, for transporting products. This is a relatively common device used in industry – a scissor-lift cart. The height of the cart is adjusted hydraulically, in this case with a foot pedal, although powered adjustment mechanisms are also available. These carts cost about $1500. Workers can bring objects up to a better height for lifting, although the best use is to place the cart at the same height as the shelf or table the object is being transferred to or from, and then slide it over rather than lifting. Carts with rollers or roller balls are available to help make the sliding transfer easier. A link to WISHA’s Ergonomics Ideas Bank is in the Links page at the end of this slide show

Good Ideas for Pushing/Pulling: If you have the option, push rather than pull. The carts to the right have been modified so persons of different heights can push them with their hands at the appropriate height

Reducing bending Add handles The manufacturer of this product included cutout handles in the box, so the handler could lift it from a higher level. Also, storing them on one or more pallets raises the level of the handles even more. This shows the difference in lifting posture between picking up a box from the bottom, and picking it up using handles near the top of the box. In this case, this product is shipped in a box with pre-cut handles, so it doesn’t cost anything to use them. There’s still some bending, but the box is now lifted from above the knees, rather than below them. There are a couple of other good ideas in this photo as well. The pallet of boxes has been stacked on an empty pallet to raise it up a little (sometimes even raising something just 6” can make a difference in posture). The bottom pallet has also been designed with some toe space below the load deck to allow workers to get closer to the objects they’re lifting.

Reducing lifting, by sliding Arrange storage This person has placed a cart just below the level of the shelf, so she can just slide the box onto the cart deck rather than lift it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This shows arranging storage so that larger, heavier and more frequently used boxes are between knee and shoulder height. In this case, the height of the shelf for heavy boxes is just above the height of the cart, so they can be slid instead of lifted. This type of ‘downhill’ transfer is the easiest, although if boxes need to go back and forth from the shelf to the cart, they would want to set them as close to the same level as possible. Utility carts like this one are relatively inexpensive, usually less than $120. Heavy Battery

Helpful Links WISHA’s Ergonomics Ideas Bank: www.ergoideas.lni.wa.gov Preventing Lifting and Overexertion Injuries Ohio State University Extension's Agricultural Tailgate Safety Training Series This shows arranging storage so that larger, heavier and more frequently used boxes are between knee and shoulder height. In this case, the height of the shelf for heavy boxes is just above the height of the cart, so they can be slid instead of lifted. This type of ‘downhill’ transfer is the easiest, although if boxes need to go back and forth from the shelf to the cart, they would want to set them as close to the same level as possible. Utility carts like this one are relatively inexpensive, usually less than $120.

Thanks for your interest in overexertion injuries!