Safety Belts

dwg0f4

My company currently requires all employees to wear safety belts. I understand now that this is not an OSHA requirement, rather it is a company decision. What are your companies policies regarding this matter. Is it better to make it optional, but provide lift training? Some say that it provides a false sense of security. I look forward to your thoughts.

Parabeagle

What I've read indicates that the belts do give employees a false sense of security to the point where they may not practice appropriate lifting techniques or make a risky lift under the mistaken belief that the belt will protect them. I even recall reading somewhere that an employee who injures his back while wearing a belt usually results in a more severe injury than if he hadn't been wearing the belt. We do not require belts but provide lifting training annually for our employees.

Nat

We offer safety belts to those who want them but do not require it. We also provide annual moving and lifting training for our employees. You might check with your worker's comp carrier and see if they recommend them. I have had them go both ways. Because they probably don't use them at home, you might not really know if the injury occurs at work. I guess sometimes you don't really know anyway..but..I would definitely have a good lifting training whether or not you offer belts to employees.th-up

SMace

I've seen studies that show they do not help. I would encourage lifting training more than anything. If you just give them back belts and they don't know how to lift, they are useless.

mwild31

Back in 1994 NIOSH issued a memorandum stating that there was not sufficient evidence to support the use of back braces as a PPE. I don't believe that position has changed all that much. In addition, Washington State does not recognize back braces as a PPE and somewhat discourages their use based on the same reasoning that you described. With all that said, I don't believe that a company policy that requires it for ALL employees might be in the employees or the company's best interest. First, go back to the drawing board and try to ascertain why the policy was instituted in the first place. Second, review what the injury situation was before the policy and what it has been like since the policy. Third, make sure that it's not required or suggested as a PPE by your state. Once you do these things, you will quickly be able to determine whether or not it is in the company's and the employee's best interest to continue with the policy or not. Finally, check with your state, in Washington, annual lifting training is required.

Safety Witch

I still refer to the NIOSH memo regarding this subject. Back supports can cause other problems if employees are not trained on there proper use. I read that when someone wears the belt tight even when not lifting, it puts pressure on the diaphragm and can cause pressure in the chest. This in fact happened to one of our employees. After that episode we required a doctor's written request for an employee to wear any type of brace (including wrist braces) prior to the company purchasing the item. We insisted the employee have a physical before they wore their brace at work so it would not cover up a problem which could be made worse by a brace, therefore causing a complicated worker's comp case.

My personal opinion is that employees should not wear a brace but a lifting program, including training and follow-up is the key to this issue.

While shopping at a pet food store, I noticed they put the heaviest dog food sacks on the bottom shelf. I asked the manager why they didn't stock them on the middle shelves for easier manuevering into the shopping cart. He said their head office required them to stock that way because it "looked" better. He encouraged me to ask for help from an employee to lift the bags into the shopping cart. When I asked him if it was okay for his employees to hurt their backs, he got very defensive. I asked him for the address of their head office and he wouldn't give it to me. I feel it is our duty, as safety professionals to spread the word about safe lifting and use of back supports no matter where we see the problems!

Eliant

My current employer was a real big believer of back belts. Someone at corporate came up with BBS (Behaviror Based Safety.)Decided to eliminate back belts and made it optional. This is what happened:
Because we did not put a transitional program in place, and employees had been using back belts for a few years and the number of back injuries rose about 50%.(cause due to years of wearing back belts created a false sense of security, weak back muscles, it encouraged bad safety behavior) However, now that we are over that hurdle, our back injuries have diminished. BBS really works. We also trained employees on excersises they can do to strenthen their back muscles.
My suggestion is before you give your employees the option, have a transitional plan in place. (train, train, train) propper lifting, pushing and pulling techniques. Excersises to strenthen their muscles. (they can do these at home) and document,document,document.