Preventing and alleviating back pain

Managing back pain in the workplace

You can reduce the incidence and/or severity of back pain by:

• carefully examining what could cause harm to people and deciding if you have taken the necessary precautions. This is called a risk assessment;
• eliminating or reducing the risks that can cause back pain. This could mean changing the way the work is organised or introducing lifting equipment;
• designing the task and the workplace to take account of the risks; and
• reviewing the situation in conjunction with the workforce to ensure the changes are effective.

You have a duty under health and safety legislation to make sure the risks to health in the workplace are properly controlled. Manual handling (including lifting, bending, twisting), poor posture (such as sitting at a poorly designed workstation or PC) and whole body vibration (which occurs, for example when you drive heavy vehicles) are known risk factors for back pain. Accidents, such as trips and falls can also be a factor.

Talk to your staff; they know what they find difficult and often have good ideas about how to improve things. Involving workers and safety representatives in discussions about how to improve health and safety will also make it easier to agree changes and workers will be more likely to follow procedures that they have helped to design. If there are safety representatives appointed by trade unions that you recognise, the law requires you to consult them.

Some general tips to help avoid problems include:

• making sure loads are not handled above shoulder height or in cramped working areas;
• arranging cover for holidays and unexpected absences so that individuals are not left to cope alone with handling normally done by two or more workers; and
• keeping the workplace clear of obstructions that can cause trip and slip accidents when handling loads.

Case studies on musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) involving back pain are available on the main MSD site.

• From experience