Prevention program reduces back injuries
Obstacle course’ concept key to success
A back injury prevention program featuring an "obstacle course" concept that recreates specific employee job functions has helped airline manufacturer Boeing sharply reduce employee back injuries and related absenteeism.
The program, called BACKSAFE, was developed by Santa Barbara, CA-based Future Industrial Technologies (F.I.T.). Ed Bahl, safety administrator for the Boeing fabrication division in Auburn, WA, says that from 1992 to 1995, while Boeing employees were participating in the BACKSAFE program, back injuries, resulting in lost time, dropped from 269 to 115. Lost time days in the 14,000-employee division dropped from 19,009 to 2,280 in the same period.
A real-world’ education
Bahl looked at a number of different back education programs, he says, but "BACKSAFE had something unique I liked the obstacle course." He liked it so much, in fact, that he obtained rights to the program from F.I.T., and then used his own internal trainers.
The obstacle course gives employees "real-world" back education, explains Dennis Downing, president of F.I.T. "You never tell a kid, Here’s a video, now go ride your bike,’" he notes. "They learn by doing. What we do is go into a company and set up a kinetic learning module that mirrors the daily activities of the attendee."
If there are several different job functions performed by employees (and at most companies there are), a different "pod" is created for each function.
For example, F.I.T. is currently working with a major airline, and separate pods have been created for learning the proper posture and motions pertaining to:
• Aisle carts: The training aisle carts are set up fully loaded, with liquor and other beverages. They are pulled out on a slight angle, to simulate the resistance experienced in the real world. The employees also are taught how to support themselves when leaning over and grabbing trays to prevent cumulative trauma on a daily basis.
• Luggage: Employees are taught proper lifting and carrying techniques not only for passengers’ luggage, but also for their own.
• Serving: "If you serve 100 cups a day, using the same motion, your hand will be in constant flexion, and you’ll incur a lot of stress," explains Downing. "We teach the airline workers four different ways to serve using four different sets of muscles."
F.I.T.’s BACKSAFE program, first introduced in 1990, has achieved the following results at client companies:
• Boeing Co.: 41% reduction in back injuries;
• Chrysler Corp.: 56% reduction in back injuries;
• L.A. County Office of Education: 37% reduction in carpal tunnel syndrome.
Assessment, then implementation
To properly implement the program, says Downing, it must be preceded by an ergonomic assessment of the workplace. During this phase, BACKSAFE consultants (a network of 1,000 physicians who serve as independent contractors) become well-acquainted with the worksite and the employees.
This pre-assessment process is intense, Downing says. "For example, we are currently working with a grocery store in Los Angeles. Our consultants are training in a frozen food warehouse, where it’s 20 degrees. We literally conducted the pre-assessment in Long Johns.’"
A critical part of the process, Downing notes, is training employees in their environment. "At the same time, we also get to know their lingo," he points out, which helps the consultants communicate with the employees. "In order to get buy-in from employees, you need to relate to them," Downing explains.
Making the case to employees
At the outset of the implementation process, employees attend an initial class of about 90 minutes. In groups of 15 or less, they are first given a 10-minute introduction to help achieve buy-in. "We explain how they will benefit from the program," says Downing. The employees are told they will learn to use their bodies better, they will have less pain, and they will have a more enjoyable work and family life.
Next, they are shown a 15-minute video customized to their industry (material handlers, truckers, police, office workers.) Finally, they will go through a stretching routine that is to be performed before each shift (these include job-specific stretches based on the pre-assessment). "We teach them how to diagnose where the stress is on their body; that’s the stretch they will do on a given day," Downing explains.
It is only after the pre-assessment and presentation phases, Downing explains, that the employees are ready for the "obstacle course."
In fact, for the program to be most effective, he says, it should be approached as a three-phase undertaking: Implementation; reinforcement (teaching company supervisors to enforce the precepts that were taught on an ongoing basis); and maintenance an annual follow-up by F.I.T. The program costs $25 per employee, plus $5 for the educational materials they receive.
Bahl has seen first-hand the benefits of the "kinetic learning" approach to back safety education. "Here, we call it Back School,’" says Bahl, who notes that Boeing employees have in fact "bought into" the concept and consider it to be "their" back program. Today, the program is being introduced to the entire company.
Downing asserts that a properly structured education program can overcome even the least "back-friendly" work site. "We are not the victims of our environment we can control it," he says.
[For more information on the BACKSAFE program, contact: Dennis Downing, Future Industrial Technologies, 4930 Cervato Way, Santa Barbara, CA 93111. Telephone: (805) 964-3172. Fax: (805) 964-0974. E-mail: [email protected]. World Wide Web: www//Backsafe.com.]
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