BACK INJURIES CAN MEAN REAL TROUBLE

The most common causes of compensated injury and disease in the Health and community services industry in 2006–07 were

muscular stress (due to manual handling or repetitive movement), which accounted for 52% of claims.

Reference : Safe Work Australia, Health & Community Services Information Fact sheet.

http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/swa/IndustryInformation/HealthCommunity/

These musculoskeletal disorders (MSD’s) happen in the workplace as a result of:

• Accidents - sudden damage caused by unexpected movements, strenuous manual handling or awkward lifts or
• Cumulative damage - gradual wear and tear caused by frequent or prolonged periods of manual handling activity. Most work-related MSD’s are cumulative disorders, in part because repeated exposure to low or moderate loads and the resultant cumulative tissue damage will progressively reduce the threshold beyond which acute injury is likely to occur.

Within Manutention training, participants are taught to plan ahead and work through the risk management process to minimise the chance of an accident. They are further taught to adopt self protective behaviours to reduce the chance of cumulative damage occurring and to position themselves safely.