Health and Safety

There are some things that make your spine tingle that are exciting and good for you, but more often than not, if you experience a tingling in your back it is a sign of something bad.We are talking about back pain, herniated discs, or worse. Back injuries are probably not something you immediately associate with animal research. However, there are plenty of ways to injure your back if you work with laboratory research animals and back injuries are among the most common reasons for lost work-time by animal workers.¹ Working in animal research facilities often involves heavy lifting and repetition and a real potential for overexertion and overuse. Lifting and loading feed and bedding material, cage handling, working with heavy animals, and cage washing are just a few operations that present a risk for injury. That is why back injuries are still one of the most common hazards faced each day in this sector of workers.

Did you know that during the period between 2003 and 2008 back injuries involving days away from work averaged more than 250,000 cases per year?² The majority of these cases were due to overexertion and specifically, overexertion during lifting. The median for days away from work was six, which is a significant amount of lost time. In fact, back injuries are the second leading reason, behind the common cold, for absenteeism in the general workforce. And it is estimated that about 80% of adults will experience a back injury during their lifetime.³ At least one source estimated the cost in 2003 for each low-back injury to be $22,800. Given these statistics, the potential for serious injury and lost work time it is appropriate to provide pointers on proper lifting technique that will help avoid these costly injuries.

Safe Lifting Techniques
Using proper lifting and handling methods will protect against injury. Applying good ergonomics and proper physics makes lifting work easier as well. Take a few moments to think about what you are going to lift and the effort that will be required. Repetition in and of itself is not the problem, it is repetition combined with poor posture, bad ergonomic, and improper force that produces stress and eventually leads to pain and injury. Following the basic steps of safe lifting techniques every time as presented below will help develop proper habits. So, let’s get started.