Back injuries continue to be a leading cause of work related mishaps! This is an obvious fact, proven by numerous safety surveys and analyses. Back injury problems are prevalent in DOE, just as they are in general industry. Therefore, the question remains, what is a realistic solution? One answer may be employee training. You may ask: "What's so new about employee training?" Continue reading.

   When we think of back injury training what first comes to mind are images of standardized and symptomatic positioning of employees through safety training films, posters, and back care clinics. To sum it up in one phrase 'not always effective and boring if not applicable'. If you analyze this type of safety training, the main reason it does not produce better results is because it fails to ensure the worker transfers the newfound knowledge to the actual work environment. For instance, we have all heard of the worker who returned from safety training and injured his lower back because he was lifting improperly in response to differing circumstances. .

   We know that one of the most effective ways to reinforce the transfer of training knowledge is by performance based training, in which the worker learns by performing the work. So it seemed reasonable to LLNL staff that workers could perform their material handling or critical response tasks without hurting themselves if they actually experienced on the job what the proper procedure felt like and how to apply this correct experience (e.g. body leverage) at varied and all times. This, whether it was material handling, lifting equipment, pulling hoses, or carrying patients or injured victims during an emergency response. LLNL contacted a unique professional training organization to see if a specialized method for reducing lost work and restricted work days and associated costs would work for LLNL firefighters. The training results were excellent. In fact, they were so significant that the methods are still being used and reinforced.

   The firefighters initially attended an 8-hour workshop. Afterwards, they received a 4-hour reinforcement/refresher course approximately every 18 - 36 months. Basically, the method teaches how to automatically and properly perform specific tasks while using the correct kinesthetic experience along with the appropriate muscle groups. The instructors first showed the firefighters how to build strength through specific effort - from routine lifting to critical responses, such as medical transports and victim extrications. The firefighters experienced what it felt like to do their activities correctly using proper muscle action from the outset, to include breathing while maintaining correct intra-truncal pressure (i.e., diaphragm control), along with a leveraged and stable unit body. This was reinforced each time they did their activities until it became second nature (was imprinted) and carried over to similar activities in daily life. Even at home they would routinely lift and pull correctly.

• DNFSB…….…Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
• DOE……….….Department of Energy
• EH…………....Office of Environment, Safety and Health
• EM…………...Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management
• ES&H…………environment, safety and Health
• HR…………….Office of Human Resources and Administration
• LANL…………Los Alamos National Laboratory
• LLNL………….Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• MMES…………Martin Marietta Energy Systems Inc.,
• ORISE…………Oakridge Institute for Science and Education
• OSH……………Occupational safety and Health
• OSHA………….Occupational Safety and health Administration
• TRADE………...Training Resources and data Exchange
• VPP…………….Voluntary Protection Program

  This self learning is similar to acquiring the ability to dance or box. A boxer must control automatic muscle response from breathing to balance from the outset of the fight, otherwise he would not be boxing and able to finish the first round. Another example of this automatic reflex, or imprinted work behavior, can be psychologically related to driving a car. An experienced driver does not have to concentrate on driving. He or she can carry on a conversation, listen to tapes, and eat and look at the countryside while driving.

This specific work behavior modification technique
for work hardening is equally effective when applied
to other occupations. Examples include material handling,
law enforcement, paramedics, nurses, beverage distribution,
technical crafts people, and others in physically demanding
or environmentally changing work arenas which cannot be
readily or completely redesigned, if at all.

   Besides this work behavior modification, some firefighters added weight conditioning to their training, although it was not necessarily needed or appropriate. Their idea was to truly harden and strengthen their bodies in components. However this type of body strengthening for work can often create injuries later on in the actual workplace. For example, weight training for strong arms, legs and abdomen can cause inappropriate responses in the real work place e.g. when transporting a patient (weight) on a backboard down a narrow flight of stairs. With this type of compartmentalized muscle memory training, an unanticipated shift of the patient's weight or a falter by one of the other carriers might trigger the vulnerable carrier to respond arms and upper body first rather than using the larger muscle groups of the legs and pelvis reflexively. The result would quite possible be a back injury, often the case in this changing work circumstance.

   Before this new, specialized program, the number of lost and restricted work days were significantly higher at LLNL's Fire Department. The graph (shown above) indicates a substantial reduction in costs associated with injuries since LLNL began using the new methods. Frequently, personnel had to medically retire because of disabling injuries, particularly back-related . With the imprinting safety program, the injury rate has been significantly reduced, making the firefighting force more physically ready and able to perform their tasks.

The course consists of the following:

• Imprinting workers with the proper (kinesthetic) experience of how to respond naturally, using their own body skills, body type, and performance need.
  
  
• Teaching workers the correct physical methods to establish correct body response in a controlled, simulated work environment.
  
  
• Establishing in the workers the ability to perform their specific work activities correctly using their specialized equipment in its environment, while still focused on the actual task at hand.
  
  
• Ultimately, teaching workers what it feels like when the work experience is making them stronger through specialized, job-specific, strength-building skills.

To obtain more information about imprinted safety training, contact; PSR® Corporation
Professional Safeguard Resources® at (415) 924-7014

The PSR® agency quote is:

"… If the work experience does not make you stronger - and you don't feel it making you stronger - it can or is likely breaking you down™."

PSR® Corporation
PO Box A
Corte Madera, Ca. 94976
(415) 924-7014
mailto:psr@usa.net

Close