Companies' efforts to deal with problems such as absenteeism, compensation
costs and worker satisfaction are encouraging them to look at a variety
of new solutions.
Recently, back support belts have joined more traditional material handling
equipment lines, such as lift tables and industrial manipulators, as possible
ergonomic solutions to the problem of back injuries, especially CTDs.
"Until recently, I never thought about back support belts as being
part of material handling," writes Bernie Knill, editor of Material
Handling Engineering. "And I'm sure that the suppliers of back support
belts didn't think about their product as material handling equipment,"
he adds.
"What back support belts do is compress the intra-abdominal muscles,
thus providing support to the lower spine," Knill says.
Typically, material handling equipment has included conveyors, overhead
cranes and lift trucks. Compared to them, back supports are a relatively
new item.
"We in material handling should realize that mechanized systems
don't always do 100 percent of the job," says Knill.
"Study after study confirms the concept; case history after case
history proves the validity of using back supports in material handling
applications," he continues.
Indications that back supports are assuming a new role, according to
Knill, are:
- the new partnership between material handling and ergonomics.
- a focus by industry and OSHA on CTDs as opposed to accidents.
- OSHA's requirement that records be kept related to CTDs. This has extended
the scope of investigation, data collection, analysis, systems design and
implementation by industrial engineers to CTD environments.
Knill writes he doesn't understand why it took so long for industry to
collect and analyze data about back injuries and CTDs and then do something
about it. He attributes some of this new emphasis to the total quality and
continuous improvement movement, which contributes to health and safety
in the workplace.
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