Articles by Organization, Country

Safe Patient Handling Organization, Governmental Publications, Conference Proceedings…

ANA

• American Nurses Association." Handle with Care."  http://www.nursingworld.org/handlewithcare/
• American Nurses Association. "NursingWorld Health and Safety Survey."  (83% of nurse respondents continue working despite experiencing back pain.  60% fear a disabling back injury.) September 2001. NursingWorld.org http://www.nursingworld.org/surveys/hssurvey.htm. 

AHA

• AHA Health Care Labor Report

Australia

• Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) "No Lifting" Policy Statement. Reviewed April 2000. Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch), Box 12600 A'Beckett Street PO, Melbourne, Vic 8006. Phone: (03) 9275 9333. ("The manual lifting of patients is to be eliminated in all but exceptional or life threatening situations.") http://www.anfvic.asn.au. To order: http://www.anfvic.asn.au/services_pubs.htm.
• Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) "Occupational Health and Safety" Policy Statement. Reviewed April 2000. Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch), Box 12600 A'Beckett Street PO, Melbourne, Vic 8006. Phone: (03) 9275 9333. ("Nurses have the right to… perform their work without risks to their…health and safety.") http://www.anfvic.asn.au. To order: http://www.anfvic.asn.au/services_pubs.htm.
• National Occupational Health and Safety Commission. "Worksafe Australia"

Canada

• Health Care Occupational Health and Safety Association " Transfer and lifts for caregivers ". (1986). Ontario, Canada: HCOSHA Publications

CDC

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). (1997). "Elements of ergonomic programs." Retrieved July 8, 2004, from the world wide web at: www.cdc.gov/niosh/third

Europe

• Great Britain National Back Pain Association. "The Guide to the Handling of Patients. 5th edition". (2005)
• Hignett Sue British. " Ergonomic Evaluation of Electric Mobile Hoists." Journal of Occupational Therapy, Nov 1998, 61(11)
• Hignett, Sue." Evidence-Based Safe Patient Handling."
• Jayson, In M.I.V. (Ed.), "The lumbar spine and back pain, (2nd ed.)." London
• London: The Stationery Office." Manual handling operations regulations." (1992).
• Meikle,James ."Nurse Wins £345,000 for Back Pain."  The Guardian. June 6, 2001.  Online:  http://society.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4199020-106678,00.html.  ("A former staff nurse has been awarded £345,000 for the back pain she received while working in a hospital which allegedly lacked suitable equipment to help move patients.  Carmel Commons, 42, is among the first nurses to win a case involving repetitive strain rather than injury from a single incident... Richard MacMillan, her solicitor, said: "Each year thousands of nurses complain of back pain.  Many of them are retired early after years of training and experience...")  
• BBC News "Nurse Wins £800,000 for Back Injury." 15 February, 2000. ("A former intensive care nurse has accepted £800,000 compensation after injuring his back at work...Mr. Karl Douglas, then 28, injured his back lifting a 12-stone patient...because no mechanical hoist was available...with the assistance of just one other colleague...Christine Hancock, general secretary of the RCN [Royal College of Nursing], said: "...manual lifting of patients is always dangerous - employers have no excuse to avoid investment in the right training and equipment.")  Online: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/642381.stm. 
• Green, C. "Study of the moving and handling practices on two medical wards." British Journal of Nursing, 5, 303-11 (1996)

NIOSH

• Blosser, Fred, Media Relations. "No evidence that back belts reduce injury seen in landmark study of retail users." Center for Disease Control and Prevention( CDC)National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health ( NIOSH) Press Release
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). (1997). "Elements of ergonomic programs". Retrieved July 8, 2004, from the world wide web at: www.cdc.gov/niosh/third.
• Collins W. James, MSME, Owen D. Bernice, PhD, " Niosh Research Initiatives to Prevent Back Injuries to Nursing Assistants, Aides, and Orderlies in Nursing Homes". RN. 29:421-424 (1996)
• Lavender, Steven A., Shakeel, Kharwar, Andersson,Gunnar B.J. and Thomas, James S. ,"Effects of a Lifting Belt on Spine Moments and Muscle Recruitments after Unexpected Sudden Loading." Spine. 25(12). June 15, 2000. Dept. of Orthopedic Surgery, Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois; and the Dept. of Kinesiology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. Supported by NIOSH grant K01-OH03339-02..
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 97-117. 1997 "Elements of Ergonomics Programs"
• National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (NIOSH). (2001). " National research agenda (NORA)", 2001. Atlanta, GA: DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2001-147.
• National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention " Safe Lifting and movement of nursing home residents." February 2006.
• Villeneuve, Jocelyn "The ceiling lift: An efficient way to prevent injuries to nursing staff." Journal of Healthcare Safety, Compliance and Infection Control. 2(1), 19-23 January 1998. “Patients must be lifted more often, which requires a level of effort significantly in excess of the limits recommended by NIOSH (1981 and 1991). To be safe, all manoeuvres in which patients are lifted must be performed by means of patient lifting devices.” “One remarkable result obtained by both institutions is that no workplace injury related to patient transfers was recorded in rooms where ceiling lifts were available.”
• Waters,Thomas R, Putz-Anderson,Vern and Garg, Arun "Applications Manual for the Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation." . U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Division of Biomedical & Behavioral Sciences. Cincinnati, Ohio. January 1994. ("…the 1991 NIOSH committee decided to maintain the 1981 biomechanical criterion of 3.4 kN compressive force for its revision of the 1991 lifting equation." Pg 755.)
• Waters, Thomas R "When is it Safe to Manually Lift a Patient" -Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation - in genreal the equation yields that when a recommended 35lb weight limit is exceeded in patient handling tasks, assistive devices should be used.

OSHA

• Occupational Safety and Health Administration. "Ergonomics Guidelines for Nursing Homes."  U.S. Department of Labor.   Online:  http://www.osha.gov/ergonomics/guidelines/nursinghome/
  final_nh_guidelines.html.  "These guidelines provide recommendations for nursing home employers to help reduce the number and severity of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in their facilities...OSHA believes that the experiences of many nursing homes provide a basis for taking action to better protect workers....These guidelines are advisory in nature and informational in content.  They are not a new standard or regulation and do not create any new OSHA duties.  Under the OSH Act, the extent of an employer's obligation to address ergonomic hazards is governed by the general duty clause. 29 U.S.C. 654(a)(1).  An employer's failure to implement the guidelines is not a violation, or evidence of a violation, and may not be used as evidence of a violation, of the general duty clause." 

.