13 Apr Practicing Back Safety Habits In Your Daily Life

Back safety should be at the top of everyone’s priority list when it comes to taking care of yourself.

With our movement and overall physical wellness being reliant on our back’s health, it is in every person’s best interest to learn the proper techniques and procedures for preventing back injury.

If you are an employer, we highly recommend our Back Safety Course as a trusted means for protecting your company and its employees from pain, suffering, and financial loss.

You can learn more about this, and other employee safety training courses we offer at Creation World Safety by emailing info@creationsafety.com or calling us at (310) 538-1297. However, for some quick tips and tricks for protecting your back on a daily basis, here are our suggestions.

Prevent Problems

In the interest of your back, you want avoid lifting and bending whenever you can (particularly where heavy objects are concerned). You should take every opportunity to spare your back that additional strain. Some ways to do this are:

• Try to avoid placing objects down on the floor. Set them on tables or other elevated surfaces instead.

• Raise or lower shelves accordingly to cause the least amount of stress on your back when picking them up—putting heavier objects on shelves that are at waist height is a must, but putting lighter objects on lower or higher shelves is okay.

• If you work in a warehouse or other setting that requires regular movement of heavy objects, whenever possible try to use carts, hoists, dolleys, and other assisted-lifting devices for transport.

You’d be surprised how often ego can cause back injuries, as people think they do not need this kind of assistance because they are strong enough to handle the situation on their own.

Lifting With Care

Since you cannot always avoid lifting, for the sake of your back safety it is important to know the proper technique for lifting objects. In order to reduce the pressure on your back when lifting:

• Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart.

• Get as close to the object as you can.

• Bend with your knees—squatting down to lift the object).

• Keep your spine straight (tucking in your chin helps ensure this).

• Use your palms to get a secure grip around the object.

• Allow your leg, abdominal, and buttock muscles to do the work as you lift slowly (without jerking) and keep the object close to you.

• After the fact, avoid twisting your waist while carrying the object; then reverse the steps to set it back down.

Other Tips:

In addition to the aforementioned, when you need to lift things try to utilize handles and straps, get help when appropriate, and reduce the amount of weight being lifted when you can. (Example: instead of shoving forty books into one box so you can make one trip; separate that into multiple loads to spare your back the strain.)

Furthermore, for best back safety take good care of your body. Stretch before lifting or reaching, pace yourself, avoid twisting movements, rest your back in intervals, sleep on a firm mattress, and keep in shape. For more specific, comprehensive lessons in back safety, contact Creation World Safety today!