Maintaining staff at work

Key to maintaining staff at work is to create a healthy workplace which includes monitoring the health of your employees. You need to know if people are having problems before you can do anything about it. Key things that can be done at this stage include:

Reduce physical risks in the workplace

The most important physical risk factors associated with low back pain include:

• Frequent heavy lifting
• Twisting and bending
• Prolonged static postures
• Repetitive work
• Vibration

Reducing your employees' exposure to these may decrease the likelihood of back pain becoming a serious problem.

Address any psychological risks in the workplace

There is now irrefutable evidence that 'psycho-social' factors are as important as physical risk factors in developing and recovering from low back pain. These include:

• Mental stress and anxiety
• Lack of job satisfaction
• Beliefs about back pain
• Poor advice from family and friends
• Lack of trust in management

If these factors are present in your workplace you need to address them. As well as helping to reduce workplace absence, it is also good human resources practice.

Provide adequate training

There is a legal duty on employers to provide suitable health and safety training for staff. This can include training in:

• Risk assessment
• Manual handling
• Display screen equipment

Change or rotate duties

Identify activities the employee finds difficult to perform due to their back pain and find alternative ways of doing them, or ask the employee to do other duties for a limited period of time. Allow staff to rotate duties so they are exposed to prolonged single activities for shorter periods.

Sound ergonomics

There are many ways in which changes can be made to the workplace to help support staff:

• Changing working hours.
  Some employees with back pain may find that after a few hours of work their back pain and discomfort increases. You may be able to offer flexible working hours in the short term - remember, most back pain gets better after 4-6 weeks and it is better to keep staff at work than have them off sick.

• Good use of breaks.
  Repetitive work may aggravate back pain so it may be beneficial to allow employees to take regular breaks from repetitive work. Some people with back pain find that doing regular stretches or going for a walk helps them to manage their back pain.

• Equipment.
  Make sure that you are providing the necessary equipment to allow your staff to carry out their work safely and efficiently. Ensure that staff know how to use equipment properly and that it is maintained and serviced appropriately.

• Sound ergonomics.
  Ergonomics is an approach which puts human needs and capabilities at the centre of design - whether it is a product or your workplace. The aim is to ensure that people work in harmony with their environment, with equipment and tasks aligned to human characteristics.

Workplace adjustments

Workplace adjustments need not be difficult. You will often find easy solutions by working with your employee and their Trade Union representatives. At other times you may need to seek professional advice. The key steps in planning adjustments are:

• Consider the needs of your employee and what they can do
• Assess the difficulties your employee is facing at work
• Consider the adjustments needed to overcome these difficulties
• Review health and safety risk assessments in the light of the proposed adjustments
• Review how well the adjustments work
• Seek professional advice, where necessary, to help you make informed decisions.

Useful Links

The Health and Safety Executive

Sheffield Occupational Health Advisory Service

 

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