Safety Inspectors To Target Back Pain

Back pain

Looking after your back will help you avoid injury and reduce the number of days lost by employees. As part of a nationwide health initiative, Rochdale Council's Environmental Health (Health & Safety) Team are helping local people to reduce the incidence of back injuries at work.  Backs! 2005 will concentrate upon back injury and back pain in the workplace and will involve health and safety inspectors visiting premises across the borough over a four-week period from 13 June 2005.

Back disorders are the most common form of ill health at work and an estimated 1.1 million people in the UK suffer from musculo-skeletal disorders affecting muscles, joints and tendons in upper limbs, the neck, shoulder and back. One in every four working days is lost due to back pain and the average time off per person exceeds 20 days per year.

As part of the campaign, inspectors will gather detailed information on the incidence of back pain in the workplace, from employers and employees. The main aim of the initiative is to promote the use of lifting and handling aids for essential manual handling tasks, together with promoting training in the use of equipment and safe handling. Gary Parkinson, Senior Environmental Health Officer said "I am confident that this initiative will be a success. Too many people suffer from back pain caused or made worse by their work. Prevention is better than cure and neglecting the issue is clearly bad for people and for business".

The initiative is being run in partnership by the Health & Safety Executive and Local Authorities throughout the UK.  Inspectors will be targeting employers across all sectors and local intelligence work will identify suitable duty holders to be inspected. For further information about the initiative, contact Rochdale Council's Health & Safety team on 01706 864112.