Manual handling-industrial back belts
Contents
- What are industrial back belts?
- Why are back belts being used?
- Are there any benefits from wearing back belts?
- Frequently asked questions
- Hazard Identification
- Risk Assessment
- Risk Control
1. What are industrial back belts?
Industrial back belts are also referred to as ?back support belts?, "abdominal belts", and "lumbo-sacral braces" or "corsets". They are most commonly lightweight, flexible, elastic belts worn around the low back region, and may be kept in place with shoulder straps or braces. There has recently been a trend for workers in jobs involving frequent or heavy lifting, for example, warehouses and retail outlets to use back belts.
2. Why are back belts being used?
One reason why back belts are used is that they are seen as a cost-effective solution to a back injury problem at the workplace. However, a review of the literature on back belts does not support this belief. No scientific evidence has so far been found to support the claim that back belts improve safety when undertaking manual handling activities by preventing back pain or injury.
Back belts are sometimes promoted as:
- reducing the forces on the back during lifting activities;
- increasing intra-abdominal pressure which may redistribute the forces on the back when lifting;
- decreasing muscle fatigue and strain due to increased muscle support and through raising the local area temperature;
- stiffening the back which may decrease the forces on it;
- restricting movement in the back, in particular forward bending;
- reminding the wearer to lift properly and to avoid awkward postures and heavy loads; and
- reducing injuries in the workplace.
3. Are there any benefits from wearing back belts?
No conclusive evidence has so far been found to support the use of back belts as an effective risk control strategy to prevent manual handling related injuries. A review of the scientific literature reporting studies carried out in several countries neither supports nor refutes the effectiveness of back belts in reducing injuries, although the consensus of expert opinion is that they have no demonstrable benefits. There is also insufficient scientific evidence that they deliver on the types of claims identified above.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in the United States has undertaken extensive research to review and evaluate existing information on back belts. They do not recommend the use of back belts to prevent injuries among uninjured workers. They have also emphasised that:
"Back belts do not mitigate the hazards to workers posed by repeated lifting, pushing, pulling, twisting, or bending."
NIOSH is of the opinion that workers wearing back belts may feel a false sense of security and attempt to lift more weight than they would without a belt, thus possibly increasing risk of injury. Back belts should not be regarded as personal protective equipment.
4. Frequently asked questions
Weightlifters use back belts so why are they not recommended for other lifting tasks?
Weightlifting requires a combination of strength, co-ordination and balance, and involves weights many times greater than those handled in industry. The belts used by weightlifters are commonly made of leather and are stiffer than the belts usually used in industry. Whilst it is traditional for weightlifters to use belts, the way in which they may provide protection against injury is not at all clear. The weightlifter?s belt does give a feeling of security and stability, and its action may be to help stabilise the trunk under the high load conditions experienced by competitive weightlifters. But this lifting situation is very different from the manual handling tasks commonly found in industry, where loads are much less and postures often involve more bending of the trunk.
Are back belts helpful if I have a bad back?
Back belts have been used for many years by the medical profession to provide additional back support during rehabilitation of injuries. There is some evidence that the use of individually moulded back supports reduces loss of work time following low back injury, but that is a very different situation from using an ordinary industrial-type back belt to prevent an injury in the first place, or to stop it getting worse. If you do have a low back problem then it is important that you see your doctor and follow his advice about load limits and so on.
How do I reduce back injuries?
Back injuries are commonly associated with manual handling activities such as lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling, carrying and holding a person, animal or thing. The Western Australian Code of Practice for Manual Handling provides practical guidance on the three-step risk management process of:
Hazard identification
Risk Assessment
Risk Control
5. Hazard identification
There are a number of ways to identify hazards. Examples are:
- checking injury and hazard reports;
- talking to employees, supervisors and safety and health representatives;
- observing work tasks being performed; and
- looking for any trends in injury related statistics.
6. Risk assessment
Risk assessment involves identifying those tasks that need to be looked at (and their order of riority). Risk assessment enables the identified manual handling hazards to be looked at from a number of different angles and in more detail. This enables a full understanding to be obtained as to why the task is a problem.
7. Risk control
Risk control involves the elimination or reduction of assessed risk factors. Approaches that can be used include:
- modifying the workplace layout and equipment;
- modifying the load;
- controlling the work environment;
- redesigning work patterns; and
- training.
Follow-up and review are essential aspects of the risk management process. Control measures need to be reviewed after they have been implemented so as to determine if risk factors have been eliminated or controlled and whether new hazards have been introduced.