NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Back injuries in the workplace can be reduced by as much as one-third if workers wear back supports, a new study shows.
Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Public Health studied the workplace injury history of 36,000 Californian workers who worked at 77 Home Depot stores, a home improvement retailer. The company imposed a consistent back-support use policy, phased in between 1990 and 1992.
By analyzing injury reports and other worker information over a six-year period, the researchers found that the workers sustained about 31 back injuries per one million work hours without the supports, compared to about 20 injuries per one million work hours after the back-support use policy was imposed.
Benefits of using the back supports were seen in male and female workers, young and older workers, and among those engaged in low and high levels of lifting, according to Jess Kraus, one of the UCLA investigators.
The biggest benefit was seen among the groups of workers at highest risk of back injury. These were men who were 25 and younger or over age 55, had worked for the company for one to two years, and had jobs that required the highest intensity of lifting.
The study will appear in the November issue of the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health.
