Spinal specialists see a lot of patients who have suffered acute injuries during the course of their jobs. At that point, there will be a range of treatment options available depending on the type of injury sustained. In a lot of cases, pain management and rehabilitation may help a person to recover from the damage their back sustained, and if that’s not sufficient, an individual may then be asked to explore the possibilities of a minimally invasive spinal surgery.
That said, the best type of treatment is that which never has to occur in the first place. You can take certain steps to protect yourself from back injuries at work, and your employer can do the same.
A couple weeks ago, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration put together an event known as the National Safety Stand-Down. What this basically amounted to was the organization asking employers in the construction industry to take a break at some point in the day and talk to their workers about fall prevention.
Preventing these kinds of situations is important, as the spine is one area of the body that typically sustains damage when a fall takes place. If you’re an employer and did not take part in the National Stand-Down a couple weeks ago, you should check out the tips available from OSHA at this link, as they do a great job outlining how to put on an event that makes fall prevention a priority.
As you can see, a fall can take place in a variety of different circumstances. While a fall from a roof or a scaffold is probably the most obvious danger, even a ladder or a relatively short step stool can create a fall risk. It doesn’t take a great height to sustain a serious injury, and you have to make your workers aware of safety at every turn.
For ladders, that might mean reviewing the proper procedures for how to set up. Stress a safe angle at which a ladder should be set and the importance of a stable surface. Also be sure to conduct a review of the three point rule; at any given time, three points of contact should be made with the ladder. This may seem obvious, but it’s a rule that gets treated more like a guideline as a person grows comfortable in their job.
For roofs, you might develop safety rules focused on where an individual is allowed to stand without protective equipment. When it comes to scaffolds, make sure that workers know how to build such things with safety in mind and that they know how to properly scale these.
In these ways and more, you can reduce the risk of a serious back injury.
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