Provider finds answers to industrial work hazards
Therapists often can point out simple solutions
Rehab facilities are in a good position to help manufacturers and other companies reduce workplace injuries through prevention and intervention programs.
Once administrators of industrial firms realize how much money they can save on the cost of treating injured workers and how much lost work time can be saved, they’ll find it to their benefit to contract with rehab facilities to provide the far less costly prevention and assessment work, explains Mary Ellen Modica, MHS, PT, director of Steps Rehabilitation Clinic of Arlington Heights, IL. The clinic is part of Schwab Rehab.
Here are four examples of how therapists provided lasting solutions to workplace hazards:
1. Carrying bags of lime: A lime processing company hired the rehab facility to provide a program on preventing back injuries. The facility’s physical therapist visited the site and could see that the workers used terrible techniques in moving the 50- to 60-pound bags of lime. Even though she was just 4 feet, 11 inches tall, the physical therapist rolled up her sleeves and showed them the proper way to stack and move the bags. The workers and managers were so impressed with how well she could move the bags, not only did they change their techniques, but the company manager jokingly offered the physical therapist a job as a bag loader, Modica says.
2. Lifting 100 lb. bags: In another example, Modica dealt with a factory that had been retooled with huge machines. "People were lifting 100 lb. bags of flour and salt, climbing a flight of stairs, and lifting these bags over their shoulders to throw into a mixer."
Modica immediately saw that as a potential back-injury hazard and convinced the company to use a forklift to bring the bags to the mixer. Then she suggested the company lower the mixer to the average man’s waist level, so all the workers had to do was turn on the forklift and lift the bag into the mixer.
3. Pushing tall racks: Another company had nine worker injuries in one month among people who were pushing tall racks of shelves. "So I looked at the carts, and some were bent or tilted, some had dirt and food particles and oils on them so the wheels didn’t move well," Modica says. "Also, some of the wheels were missing parts of rubber and didn’t roll well."
Modica spoke with the company’s safety committee and told them what the problems were. The company agreed to make changes. They showed workers a video that demonstrated the correct ways to push and pull the carts. Then they set up a process to check the carts, and if a cart was damaged, take it out of service for repair or replacement.
The cost of properly maintaining and even replacing old carts was less than the cost of treating injured workers.
4. Removing slats from sewage plant tanks: Three workers were injured at a sewage treatment plant when they tried removing the big wooden slats used to stir the mixture inside of large tanks. The company had recently put new fencing around the tanks to prevent another workplace hazard: workers falling into the tanks.
However, the fencing now made it difficult for workers to reach the slats, which caused back and shoulder injuries.
The rehab facility therapists worked with the plant’s safety committee and workers to find a solution to the problem. "I told them they would either have to cut a hole in the fence so workers could get closer, or put a gate so they could walk in closer," Modica says. Either solution would prevent workers from having to bend far over the fence in order to pull out the slats.
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