Heavy Lifting and Workplace Injuries
Did you know that having to lift heavy objects is among the leading causes of workplace injuries every year? According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), lifting-related injuries are responsible for more than one-third (about 36 percent) of all workplace injuries resulting in missed workdays. When lifting-related injuries occur, they most often impact a workers’ shoulders or back. These injuries can be due to overexertion in a single lifting incident, or a result of “cumulative trauma” from lifting heavy objects repeatedly and over time. What should you know about heavy lifting and workplace injuries? Our workers’ compensation lawyers in Maryland can tell you more.
Types of Jobs in Maryland Where Lifting is Required
In some types of jobs that require heavy lifting, this form of physical labor may be expected. Yet lifting-related injuries are common in various professions, including in some types of jobs that you might not expect. The following are some of the common jobs in which lifting-related injuries result in missed workdays and successful workers’ compensation claims:
- Hospital work, especially among nurses and nursing assistants;
- Baggage work at airports;
- Supermarket work, especially among employees responsible for loading and stocking;
- Custodial work;
- Maintenance work;
- Construction work; and
- Warehousing.
In construction, there is also a subset of workers who may specialize in heavy equipment operation. These workers tend to sustain injuries resulting from encounters with the heavy machinery, such as rollovers or struck-by accidents, rather than injuries caused by their own physical lifting.
Types of Injuries from Heavy Lifting
What are the most common types of lifting-related injuries? OSHA cites the following:
- Back sprains;
- Muscle pulls;
- Wrist injuries;
- Elbow injuries; and
- Spinal cord injuries.
Factors in Lifting-Related Injuries
According to OSHA, there are several key factors that tend to determine whether lifting-related injuries are likely to occur in a particular workplace. Those factors include the following:
- Weight of objects typically being lifted (heavier objects are more likely to result worker injuries;
- Posture when lifting (awkward postures, especially involving twisting, can quickly lead to serious back injuries);
- Frequency of the lifting (how often the worker must lift heavy objects);
- Duration of the lifting (how long workers must hold, carry, move, or reposition heavy objects after lifting them);
- Whether heavy objects have proper handholds, such as boxes with handle cutouts; and
- Environmental factors, especially very hot or very cold temperatures that can affect a worker’s muscle flexibility and fatigue.
Contact a Maryland Workers’ Compensation Attorney
Heavy lifting is required in many different types of jobs, but employees should have protections that include training for proper lifting and access to hoists, forklifts, or other machinery designed to make lifting possible for employees without putting them at risk of physical injury. If you experienced a back, shoulder, arm, or spinal injury due to heavy lifting at work, it is important to find out about your options for workers’ compensation coverage. One of the experienced Maryland workers’ compensation lawyers at the Law Offices of Steinhardt, Siskind and Lieberman, LLC can speak with you today about the details of your work injury and your options for seeking compensation. Contact us to get started on your workers’ compensation claim.
Source:
osha.gov/etools/electrical-contractors/materials-handling/heavy