Author: Patty Busse

MN Supreme Court addresses workers’ compensation case

Posted on by Patty Busse

The Minnesota Supreme Court addressed the rights of intervenors in workers’ compensation proceedings in the August 12, 2020, decision of Koehnen v. Flagship Marine Company and Auto Owners Insurance Company.

The outcome of the case provided some certainty in the workers’ compensation system by confirming that intervenors risk losing their right to recover payments, or other interests, if they decline to participate in the proceedings. Intervenors are third parties who provide services or paid benefits to or on behalf of an injured worker.

In this case, Keith Johnson, D.C. was provided with notice of the right to intervene and chose not to do so in a pending workers’ compensation proceeding. The employee went on to settle his claim with the employer and insurer, and the intervention interests were resolved with the settlement.

A Workers’ Compensation Judge at the Office of Administrative Hearings then issued an award that extinguished the right for Johnson to recover payments, and shortly thereafter, the chiropractor filed a petition for payment of medical expenses.

The employee, the employer and insurer filed motions to dismiss, which the Compensation Judge granted. Johnson then appealed the decision all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court after the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals affirmed the order dismissing Johnson’s petition.

The Court found that the chiropractor chose not to be a party to the case and pursue reimbursement when he failed to participate in the case proceedings. The appellate courts affirmed the chiropractor had no authority or standing to file a petition for reimbursement under the Minnesota Workers’ Compensation Act, or to challenge the ruling that extinguished the chiropractor’s potential intervention interest.

In the end, the Court held that an intervenor who is properly notified of their right to intervene in a workers’ compensation proceeding must either intervene or potentially have their reimbursement rights taken away.

How to help employees combat sleeplessness

Posted on by Patty Busse

For many, the past year has been characterized by unexpected change and additional stress. As a result, sleep physicians around the world are now treating a growing number of patients with symptoms of insomnia.

According to Express Scripts, a major pharmacy benefit manger, prescriptions for sleep medications increased 15% between February and March of 2020.

Risks of sleeplessness

When employees don’t get adequate sleep, injuries are often the result of:

  • Loss of muscle coordination
  • Increased risk of dropping things
  • Stumbling and falling
  • Impaired memory, attention, judgment and concentration
  • Difficulty making decisions, processing complex data and regulating emotions
  • Greater distractibility

Work-related causes of sleeplessness

The current economic environment may also be contributing to lack of sleep.

Now more than ever, many employees are becoming increasingly concerned about job security. For some, working from home is an additional stressor introduced in 2020.

Those who work outside of the home face a different set of unique challenges.

Shift workers commonly get less than the recommended amount of sleep, averaging around five-and-a-half hours, rather than the recommended seven. A study from the American Journal of Industrial Medicine reported that workers with afternoon shifts had a 15% higher risk of injury compared to morning shift workers, and night shift workers had an increased risk of 28%.

Additionally, they also experience higher occurrence of car crashes, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer.

Long hours also show increased risk of injury due to fatigue. Workers with shifts longer than 10 hours have a 13% higher risk of injury, and those with shifts longer than 12 hours have a 28% higher risk.

What can I do?

As an employer, there are ways you can help ensure your employees are getting the recommended amount of sleep.

Teach your employees about the risks associated with insufficient sleep and how they can create healthy sleep habits.

Ways to combat lack of sleep include:

  • Have a consistent sleep schedule by going to bed at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every morning.
  • Create a bedtime routine to help the body unwind and grow accustomed to a sleep schedule.

Things like warm showers or baths, soothing music and noncaffeinated, herbal teas may help.

  • Sleep in a cool, quiet, comfortable and dark room.
  • Get outside during daylight hours to help reset your body’s natural sleep and wake cycles.
  • Limit use of technology during the hours before bedtime. Most electronics use blue light, which decreases the body’s production of melatonin and boosts attention, making the body want to stay awake. Additionally, engagement in things like social media and email can make it more difficult to unwind.
  • Get regular exercise.
  • Avoid caffeine for at least six hours prior to going to sleep.

You can also take measures to make sure your workplace isn’t causing sleep issues for your employees. Some suggestions include:

  • Limit shift work as much as possible.
  • Minimize overtime, especially if it’s forced.
  • Avoid permanent placement on the night shift.
  • Give workers as much choice as possible for shift start times.
  • Address stressful workplace conditions such as lighting, temperature, noise and access to food.

While there may be a cultural expectation to sacrifice sleep, it doesn’t have to be a part of your organization’s culture. Emphasizing the importance of sleep will benefit your company and your employees in the long run.

Chemical safety tips for your employees

Posted on by Patty Busse

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, cleaning and disinfecting have become a larger part of many employees’ days.

As a result, many employees have a higher exposure to chemicals on the job than they did in the past.

Some who rarely or never used chemicals as a part of their daily work before, like teachers for example, may find themselves using them multiple times a day. And those who have used chemicals in the past, like janitorial staff, may now be using new, stronger chemicals with different safety considerations.

Use these chemical safety tips to keep these employees safe by providing them with training and personal protective equipment tailored to the specific chemicals that they’re using.

Chemical safety basics

Conversations on chemical safety often start by discussing common ways chemicals can get into the body, such as ingestion, absorption (skin or eye contact), inhalation (breathing in) and injection.

This explains why proper personal protective equipment, like gloves and masks, is so important. They offer protection from chemicals that can cause skin and lung irritation.

For example, employees who are spraying powerful disinfectants may need to wear masks so they don’t inhale the chemicals, and cover their skin to prevent irritation.

Every chemical is different, and even chemicals that are used for the same purpose can pose different safety hazards. You can find information on the hazards posed by any particular chemical by reviewing its chemical Safety Data Sheet (SDS), which is provided by the manufacturer.

Knowing the pH level of a chemical, and its impact on safety can also help. Weak acids and bases/caustics can dry out and irritate skin, whereas strong acids and bases/caustics can cause severe, corrosive chemical burns.

Knowing how to read the hazard communication pictograms on the labels, and training your staff on this is also important.

Training your employees

Training employees to safely use any chemicals they may be exposed to in the course of work is not only the right thing to do, it’s required.

All states require chemical safety training before use, and some states have additional requirements beyond that. Check the Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines in your state.

When you train your employees in chemical safety, be sure to cover the following points:

  • Which chemicals are used in their work areas
  • The primary routes by which chemicals can enter the body: inhalation, ingestion, absorption and injection
  • How to understand the labels on chemical containers, including the nine internationally recognized pictograms
  • Where to find chemical Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) in the workplace, and how to understand them (including a review of the information contained on the SDSs of any chemicals they will be working with)
  • Location of emergency eyewashes, first aid kits, etc.
  • How to properly store hazardous chemicals
  • Required personal protective equipment and how to properly use and wear it
  • How to dispose of chemical waste properly
  • Don’t eat, drink or smoke while using chemicals, as these put you at risk of ingestion injuries
  • Don’t mix chemicals if you’re unsure how they will react
  • Clean up spills promptly

For more information on chemical safety see our Employee Right-to-know and Chemical Safety – Understanding Chemical pH 5-Minute Solutions safety talks, available on sfmic.com.

Workplace accident analysis and investigation

Posted on by Patty Busse

A workplace injury just occurred. The injured worker received appropriate medical care. What do you do next?

Poor accident analyses can cause more accidents, because they likely do not identify root causes. Without identifying root causes, your corrective actions could simply be guesses. If you’ve prepared an accident analysis plan ahead of time, you’ll feel confident that you’re taking the correct steps to investigate and address the causes, so you can prevent similar incidents in the future.

You’ll demonstrate your commitment to a safe work environment while avoiding injuries and unnecessary financial costs.

 

Make a plan

To be ready to act when the time comes, you’ll need a post-accident analysis plan. These four steps will help you create a blueprint for investigating that you can initiate immediately following an incident:

1. Determine who should investigate workplace accidents

The right investigator may be the supervisor, who knows the employees involved and the job functions. Investigations could also be led by members of your safety committee, management, safety personnel or a third party.

2. Create a written plan

In the plan, be sure to include:

  • The purpose of investigating incidents. Make it clear the goal is to identify causes and make corrections, not to place blame.
  • Who will initiate and conduct each investigation, who will review the findings and who will implement corrective action.
  • What types of incidents must be investigated. You may decide to investigate all medically treated incidents, or near misses that could have resulted in severe injuries. Many companies with the best loss prevention track records have policies to investigate all incidents.
  • When, where and how to investigate for timely and thorough results.

3. Provide training on how to investigate

Teach the four-point approach to accident investigations to anyone you’ve identified as investigators. Use our Accident Analysis Worksheet as a guide.

4. Communicate your accident investigation policy

Communicate to everyone in the company your commitment to investigating and preventing accidents. Depending on your organization, this may be a policy in your employee handbook.

Now you have an accident analysis plan ready to be put into motion after any incident.

 

The four-point approach to investigation

If an injury occurs, use your plan and this systematic approach to investigate.

1. Collect data

Ideally, accidents should be investigated right away. Talk to witnesses as soon as possible. Take pictures and review maintenance and training records.

2. Identify the causes

By identifying the causes (there could be several), you can reduce the risk of a similar incident occurring. Accident investigation looks at four possible causes:

  • Equipment: Is it working properly? Are the guards and other safety precautions present and functioning?
  • At-risk behaviors: Were there safety procedures that weren’t implemented? Are safety procedures routinely enforced? Was the employee working alone?
  • Personnel: Was the employee properly trained for this particular job? Which shift was the employee working, and how long was the employee’s shift? Was the employee wearing personal protective equipment?
  • Environment: Was the work area properly lighted? Were work surfaces and the floor free of clutter? Was noise an issue? What about chemicals or dust? Was space sufficient to do the task? Was the workspace adjusted to the employee’s ergonomic needs?

3. Analyze the findings

Examine the facts and observations. Distinguish between immediate causes and underlying causes. Immediate causes could be things like a broken rung on a ladder or other mechanical failure, or an unsafe actions such as running instead of walking. Underlying causes are things like poor machine maintenance, a missing machine guard, a crowded work area or lack of training.

4. Develop a plan for corrective action

Here’s where you have a chance to learn from what’s happened and take steps to prevent it from happening again. Make recommendations to remedy each of the possible causes you identified. For example, you might suggest changes to machinery, work procedures, employee training, safety process or personnel.

By thoroughly analyzing all of the contributing factors in a workplace accident, you’ll be able to eliminate risks and make changes that could prevent a future injury.

 

Test your report

Double-check that your analysis does the following:

  • It addresses causation and uses the model the organization has selected.
  • A person who is unfamiliar with the workplace and the process can understand what happened.
  • The report avoids acronyms and industry-specific language that someone outside the organization would not understand.
  • The report is absent of guesswork and reports only facts.
  • It includes a process for making and tracking recommendations. Recommendations should be assigned to a specific person.

SFM’s Accident Analysis worksheet offers an easy-to-follow checklist for investigations.

 

This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.

The value in reporting minor work injuries

Posted on by Patty Busse

Bumps and bruises can happen on the job. Injuries like these are often so incidental they don’t require any medical treatment, and are usually forgotten.

But what if an injury that appeared to be only a bump turned into something more severe?

Most likely, you wouldn’t still have information about the injury on hand. You’d probably also be past state deadlines for injury reporting.

Only about 10 percent of these minor incidents later turn into claims. However, those few could become problem claims if they were not reported early on.

That’s why it’s important to report all injuries, no matter how minor. If an injury requires no medical treatment or lost time from work, it will be categorized as an incident-only report, and have no effect on your injury frequency numbers or experience modification factor (e-mod).

By reporting an incident, you are preserving the necessary information you will need if the injury does later require medical attention or lost time from work. At the same time, SFM does not set aside any reserves for the incident, so the claim is opened and closed in the same day.

How incident-only reporting works

Say an employee bumped his knee. It probably doesn’t seem like a big deal to you or the employee. He told you it hurt a little at first, and that he is now fine. But, as a precautionary measure, you fill out our online injury report form.

You’ll then get a confirmation letter in the mail from SFM’s claims department, stating that SFM received the report, and to contact SFM if the employee needs medical treatment or loses time from work.

Your claims representative may call you to discuss the incident, depending on the nature of the injury. For example, if the incident involved the back, your claims representative would likely follow up, since these injuries can be more involved than they seem.

Tip: If the employee needs medical treatment later or starts missing work, call your SFM claims representative right away. He or she will be able to act more quickly, because the appropriate information is set up. The case can be managed effectively from the very beginning, ultimately reducing the total claim cost.

This is not intended to serve as legal advice for individual fact-specific legal cases or as a legal basis for your employment practices.

Keeping employees safe and engaged while working from home

Posted on by Patty Busse

Workspaces have transformed this year as the world has adapted quickly to the changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amid the frenzied transition for many people to work from home, some important aspects of a healthy workplace may have taken a backseat, such as mental health considerations, communication practices, ergonomic adjustments and general safety preparations.

Now is a good time to make changes that can help any employee stay safe and engaged while working from home.

Support employees’ mental health

Mental health support should be high on the list of resources to provide an employee working from home.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that working from home presents many emotional and mental health challenges including, but not limited to, social isolation, stress, depression and anxiety. They can cause decreased engagement in work, reduced communication with coworkers, and lower productivity.

According to the CDC, addressing mental health issues in the workplace can help employers reduce health care costs for their businesses and employees.

A Deloitte study says employers get a return of five times their investment into mental health resources and support for employees, and that translates into less workforce turnover, absenteeism and presenteeism.

These ideas may help reduce workplace mental health issues:

  • Share mental health self-assessment tools with employees, or offer free or subsidized lifestyle coaching, counseling, or self-management programs.
  • Offer good health insurance that has no or low out-of-pocket costs for mental health-related medications and counseling.
  • Train managers to identify signs and symptoms of stress and depression in team members and inform them about the available resources for support.
  • Encourage employees to set boundaries, such as keeping work to a single room in their home, taking breaks away from that space, and setting work hours to establish a clear beginning and end to the workday.
  • Share ideas for productivity, such as setting a daily routine that is similar to that of going into a physical office. Adding structure, setting deadlines, and creating a hierarchy of work tasks to complete daily can motivate some employees, which in turn may reduce stress levels.
  • Manage expectations by understanding the unique challenges of your employees who are working from home.

Talking to your employees about their needs can help you address them individually.

“It’s important to create dialog with an employee about their needs, ask them questions and then take measures to support them,” said Jody Rogers, SFM Senior VP & Chief Human Resources Officer. Rogers said that simply being aware of and demonstrating a foundation for employees’ needs creates a better culture and work atmosphere, no matter the location of the employee.

Evaluate the ergonomics of your employees’ workspace

Creating an ergonomically sound work set-up can help employees avoid aches and pains.

“It’s worth taking a little time to set up your space in a way that allows you to be safe working from home and have a comfortable work set-up,” said Stacie Goodrich, President and COO, CompRehab, an SFM subsidiary.

Achieve neutral posture

An individual’s feet should comfortably meet the floor or a footrest so their thighs are fully supported by the chair seat. Their hips should sit at an angle between 90-110 degrees, with their knees slightly lower than their hips.

The chair backrest should support the back and ideally the natural curve of the spine. Upper arms should rest comfortably at their sides with elbows at a 90-110 degree angle and wrists straight or flat on the keyboard and mouse.

The individual’s head should be centered over their neck and shoulders.

If an employee does not have these ergonomics in place at their workstation, you can offer up some tips to help them get there.

  • Raise their chair height with pillows
  • Add a foot rest for lower body support
  • Add a rolled up towel for lumbar support
  • Use an ironing board supported by the wall for a stand-up desk

Avoid eye strain

Encourage employees to take a break from their screens and look away every 20 minutes. They should be aware of lighting and position their work area near natural light, if possible. Ask them to adjust their screen accordingly to maintain neutral alignment of their neck and to reduce eye strain.

Reduce neck aches

If an employee uses a phone often when working from home, have them set up a headset or use the speakerphone option to prevent neck strain. They should avoid cradling a phone receiver between their shoulder and head.

Get up and move

Goodrich said the most important ergonomic change someone can make is to increase movement and change posture and position throughout the workday.

Encourage employees to take frequent breaks to change up their posture, stretch and take short walks outside or around their house.

Some easy ways to remember to incorporate movement are:

  • Standing up while on the phone
  • Posting a guide of stretches close by as a reminder
  • Drinking more water and refilling frequently

Assess your employees’ home workspace for safety hazards

In an office setting, communal and desk area safety checks are usually part of the day-to-day business. However, when an employee is working from home, the task of maintaining safety falls to the employer and the employee working remotely.

Telework, the Federal Government’s alternate worksite resource website, provides a safety checklist . Here are a few important takeaways:

  • Ensure all electrical cords, plugs, outlets and panels are in good condition, there is no exposed or damaged wiring, and no extension cords or power strips are daisy chained.
  • Turn off all equipment when not in use.
  • Free your area from clutter and make sure all paper and other flammables are away from heat sources and electrical outlets.
  • Make sure carpets are well secured to the floor and move cords and other trip hazards.
  • Check that walkways and doorways are unobstructed.
  • Ensure you have working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and a multi-use fire extinguisher.

Working from home presents both mental health and safety risks. By promoting awareness around the risks and challenges of maintaining a home office and schedule, you can help minimize the negative effects for your employees.

Streamlined phone reporting option available

Posted on by Patty Busse

In response to feedback from employers and workers, we’re offering a new option when you call the SFM Work Injury Hotline to report injuries.

When you call during business hours (7 a.m. to 4 p.m., M-F), you will have a streamlined report-only option for times when your employee would not benefit from speaking with a nurse. This is a good option for cases where the employee is not available for the call, or has already decided whether to get medical treatment.

The option to speak with a nurse will still be available 24/7.

“We’ve learned that many employers prefer to report all injuries by phone, so we hope this is a timesaver in cases where the employee does not need or want a treatment recommendation,” said Meg Kasting, Vice President, Claims. “We want to make it easy for policyholders to report claims immediately through whatever method is most convenient for them.”   

For times when an injured employee is unsure whether to get medical treatment, the option to speak with a nurse is still available. The nurses are specially trained in responding to work injuries. They will provide a treatment recommendation and also report the injury to SFM.

Calls outside of business hours will automatically be taken by a nurse.

For more information on work injury reporting options, visit our report an injury page. 

A legal perspective on injuries while working from home

Posted on by Patty Busse

Tom Davern, Esq.

By Tom Davern, Esq., Senior Defense Counsel with SFM’s in-house law firm

It can be challenging to determine whether an employee’s injury is considered work related, even in the typical work environment. Working from home can present unique workers’ compensation issues due to the inevitable mix of work-related and personal activities.

When an employee sustains an injury while engaged in work activities at home, it is a compensable workers’ compensation injury. The standard rule is that if you’re engaged in work activities at home, this will be considered the same as working at the office for the purposes of workers’ compensation. The standard compensability analysis used for each state applies to the home office pretty much the same as it would in the actual office. In Minnesota, you look to see whether the injury happened in the course and scope of employment (time and place) and whether it arose out of the employment (work-related connection). However, it can be a challenging line to draw in the home office environment when you mix in child care, laundry and leisure throughout the workday.

For example, consider a situation where your employee is injured while shoveling the driveway after getting a foot of snow the night before. If the employee needed to clear the driveway to go out on a sales call, it would likely be considered a work-related injury. However, what about a situation where there is only a half inch of snow in the driveway and the employee still decides to shovel before the sales call?  A defense could be raised that the employee was outside of the course and scope of employment because the driveway did not need to be shoveled to get the vehicle out on the road. The employee elected to complete a personal task that was not required in order to continue or further a work purpose.

Injuries during ‘personal comfort’ breaks

SFM’s core states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota all recognize the personal comfort doctrine in some form and to some degree. This means that injuries that occur on the premises during the workday while the employee is attending to personal needs (taking a break) are potentially compensable workers’ compensation claims. The personal comfort doctrine transfers to the home office. The big question is: “Was the injury truly incidental to an authorized break, or did the employee engage in a personal task that removed them from workers’ compensation protection?” This is one area of the law that justifies the use of the legal cliché “case by case” basis.

In Minnesota, an injury was held to be compensable when an employee fell down the stairs after walking from his home office to his kitchen for coffee. At the same time, there is a line an at-home worker can cross that would take the employee outside of the protection of workers’ compensation. So, while incidental injuries incurred during lunch or a break may be compensable, it is not necessarily a work injury.

Imagine an employee decided to hang shingles on a lunch break and fell off the roof. This would be a denied claim, as the employee went outside of the course and scope of employment by engaging in a dangerous personal activity that had no connection to the employment. Another example of a potential denial would be if an employee came down with carpal tunnel syndrome as a result of playing video games every day during breaks. I would argue that this was personal in nature and not an activity subject to the personal comfort doctrine. The pivotal question is whether the employee was truly engaged in a personal comfort activity or had deviated from the employment to engage in an unrelated household chore or activity with no work connection.

Employers responsible to provide safe work environment, regardless of where

Since the home is seen as an extension of the workplace, this means that an employer could also be held liable for a cumulative injury due to a home office setup that’s not ergonomic. Obviously, employers have less control over employees’ home office environments. I would not be surprised to see an increase in cumulative back injury claims due to employees sitting in bad chairs for eight hours a day. It may be a good idea to be proactive with communication with your employees regarding at home ergonomic issues as it could potentially save a workers’ compensation claim down the road.

Navigating the legal and safety issues surrounding working from home can be challenging. Your SFM account team and our in-house attorneys are here to help.

Ladder safety resources

Posted on by Patty Busse

Skip, SFM’s safety hero, is on a crusade to prevent slips, trips and falls — including falls from ladders.

Falls from heights continue to be a top cause of workplace injuries. More than a third of workplace fatalities in the U.S. in 2018 were due to a fall from elevation, OSHA reports.

According to the American Ladder Institute (ALI), the five most common causes of ladder accidents include:

  • Missing the last step when climbing down
  • Overreaching
  • The ladder was not the right size for the job
  • The individual stood on the top rung/ladder cap
  • The ladder was not in good working condition

Practice safe ladder use

You can prevent many falls from heights by following a few simple rules.

  • Use the right ladder for the job. Don’t use a step ladder as a straight ladder.
  • Make sure the ladder is in good condition – see our tips on proper ladder inspection.
  • Ensure the load rating is adequate for the job and make sure to include the weight of the worker, materials and tools in your estimation.
  • Keep it placed on a firm surface. Use plywood or other similar materials if the ground is too soft.
  • Keep the base of the ladder 1 foot away from the wall for every 4 feet of height.
  • Don’t overreach. Maintain your balance when working on a ladder and rather than reaching, climb down and move the ladder to a better position.
  • Maintain three points of contact on the ladder.
  • Never climb a ladder with your hands full. Instead use proper carrying devices.
  • Face the ladder when climbing or descending.

Woman climbing up a ladder

Ladder safety resources

Proper ladder use can be made easier by accessing the ladder safety app from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health . The app includes an angle measuring tool, inspection checklist and rules for proper use.

OSHA also has ladder safety tips to stop falls .

SFM offers hundreds of safety training resources to help prevent workplace injuries. Download these ladder safety resources to remind your employees not to risk a fall.

Safe lifting techniques for preventing injuries

Posted on by Patty Busse

In the workplace, back injuries are one of the most common injuries and one of the most debilitating. But they can also be easily avoided using safe lifting techniques such as proper methods of body mechanics and material handling.

Knowing the right technique for safe lifting is essential for preventing injuries. Remember to lift from a position of power by following these four steps:

  • Keep your head up

Keep your eyes and chin up. Face forward and keep your eyes parallel to the floor. Using this position helps maintain a neutral curve in your back while lifting.

  • Keep the load close

The closer the load is to your body, the better. Holding the load away from your body can increase the chance for strains and sprains to the shoulders, arms and back.

  • Use a staggered stance

While lifting, place feet shoulder width apart with one foot slightly back and turned outward to improve your balance. This will provide improved foot placement for quick reactions, a more stable lift, and decrease the risk of a back strain.

  • Nose follows toes

Avoid twisting by keeping your feet and head aligned. Use your feet to change direction, making sure to keep your entire body in line as you do so.

Safe lifting techniques

If you can, find ways to avoid manual, physical lifting. When available, use mechanical lifts such as lifting tables, powered pallet jacks, forklifts and overhead lifting systems. Look for opportunities to integrate conveyor systems. Alternatively, try pushing or rolling instead of lifting, if possible.

When lifting is necessary, take measures to make the lift as easy as possible. Don’t store materials on the floor or where you’ll have to reach high to lift them. Instead, store them at heights between the knees and shoulders, especially if they are heavy. Find ways to reduce the carrying distance and decrease the duration of the lift.

Other lifting recommendations include:

  • Get your body warmed up and stretch prior to the lift.
  • When lifting, keep your back straight and use the knees and legs to take most of the load. Don’t bend at the waist.
  • Know how much the item weighs prior to lifting to avoid an unexpected strain.
  • Plan your route and make sure the path is clear.
  • Ask another employee for help when lifting heavy loads. The NIOSH limit for lifting is 35 pounds per person under ideal circumstances before team lifting or mechanical lifting devices are recommended.
  • Communicate with the people around you. Let them know where you are and where you’re going in order to avoid accidents.

Safe patient handling

Within a health care setting, there are a few more things to keep in mind when lifting patients or residents.

Always use mechanical assist devices whenever indicated by the care plan. Devices should be readily accessible and kept in good condition. Examples include sit-to-stand lifts, friction reducers and slide boards, walkers and shower chairs, trapeze bars and safety rails. If you don’t know how to use this equipment ask your supervisors for instruction and assistance.

When feasible, ask the patient to help you as much as possible and communicate with them about what you are going to do. If you need assistance, get help from a coworker.

Using these safe lifting techniques will not only help you avoid painful back injuries, but it’s also more comfortable and less invasive for your patients.

Lifting resources

See the full list of SFM’s lifting resources.

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