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Dear
Gail:
To get right to the point, NIOSH has recommended a limit of 35 pounds for most patient lifting tasks in healthcare. Lifting patients, and particularly patients who may be in extreme distress, is a very difficult task due to uncontrolled factors such as slippery, uneven ground surfaces, patient combativeness, etc. Nevertheless, many ambulance services require potential employees to be able to lift and carry several times the NIOSH recommended limit, in at least one case even being able to carry a 160-pound weight up and down five flights of stairs three times in order to qualify for employment.
The revised NIOSH lifting equation has shown through research that a lifting index greater than 3.0 can clearly be linked to an increased risk of back and other injuries. Based on the conditions EMS employees face daily, and even assuming ideal conditions for grip, no twisting, and the other unforeseen factors, the NIOSH Lifting Equation would yield a lifting index of greater than 3.0 for the exercise described above. This would classify the lift as highly stressful and would indicate that virtually any worker would be at an increased risk of injury when carrying 160 pounds. The Applications Manual for the Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation can be found on the NIOSH website listed below. Please note, however, that the NIOSH criteria are not mandatory.
Finally, while OSHA does not publish a standard designed specifically to address the problem you raised, employee exposure to hazards related to heavy lifting and back injuries is addressed under Section 5(a)(1) of the OSHA Act, commonly referred to as the General Duty Clause. The General Duty cause states that:
Each employer -- shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees;
In practical terms, the General Duty Clause states that if an employer knowingly exposes their employees to a recognized hazardous condition, then that employer may be in violation of the OSHA Act.
What will help EMS workers do their jobs more safely? It does not appear that a universal engineering solution is on the horizon to solve this dilemma. Until lifting standards are made mandatory, each individual company and employee must become more aware of the dangers and ramifications of unsafe lifting. Be proactive, ask for assistance to lighten the load, and educate yourself on this topic by visiting…
OSHA: www.osha.gov/SLTC/ergonomics/index.html
NIOSH: www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/ergonomics/default.html#lift
Stay safe,
The Lift Doctor* |
