MEMIC Safety Blog

Unconscious Behavior: An Obstacle to Change

 Posted by Allan Brown

 

Try brushing your teeth with your opposite hand, or sleeping on the opposite side of the bed, or place the mouse on the other side of the keyboard. Can’t do it, can you? All of these are unconscious behaviors that have established patterns, patterns that you repeat everyday, without consciously thinking.Changing these patterns and behaviors is difficult.   

 

Much of your work behaviors are repeated patterns. How you reach for the mouse, where you rest your elbows at your desk, how you sit in your chair are some of these unconscious events. 

 

What if you sit perched on your chair with a forward head posture reaching for your mouse. I see it everyday when I assess work stations. This posture usually results in neck, shoulder, back and/or head discomfort. Your solution often is to reach for the ibuprofen. 

 

How about addressing the problem and change your sitting posture? It’s typically not the choice because it’s difficult to change.  First, you have to ask yourself: How am I sitting? And, why do I sit like this? Am I sitting forward in the chair because the chair is too big or because the overhead lights are too bright and wash out my screen clarity? Are my eye glasses adjusted appropriately? Why am I reaching for my mouse? Is there no room to place it closer? Is my chair too low for my work space?  Is my knee space cluttered? Our bodies will adapt to the work space unconsciously, regardless if it creates good or bad posture.

 

If you are experiencing discomfort at your workstation, take a conscious moment and think about what hurts and what might be the cause. Make a change in your workstation and address the problem by changing your unconscious behavior. Use MEMIC’s  “10 Tips for A Perfect Fit” (available through MEMIC Safety Director) worksheet to guide you through creating a comfortable workstation.  It takes time to change old habits. 

Lifting: You Can Measure the Risk

  Posted by Bill O’Connor

If you have manual handling tasks at your place of work, don’t keep your workers safe by accident.  All manual handling tasks should be evaluated for risk of injury by considering the force of exertion, frequency, body mechanics, type of load and hand grip, as well as the duration that workers are lifting. 

 

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has devised a simple tool for making just that assessment.  By taking a few simple measurements of a lifting task, you can identify if the task is within recommended limits or not.

 

A lift analysis tool (in an Excel spreadsheet) can be downloaded from a website posted by Dr. Tom Bernard of the University of South Florida.  To use the tool, you follow these simple steps:

 

• Identify the horizontal distance of an object from the body at the origin and destination of the lift (Distance of hands from the ankle bones)
• Identify the distance of the hands from the floor at the origin and destination of the lift
• Identify the weight of the object lifted
• Identify the asymmetry of the torso (how much the shoulders are turned from the straight ahead position)
• Identify how many times the object is lifted per minute
• Identify how good the hand grip is
• Identify how much time per day is occupied with this task

 

To complete your analysis, enter your assessment results into the spreadsheet.  The macros in the tool will identify the recommended weight limit (RWL) and lifting index (LI – how much the task is above or below the RWL).  “What if?” scenarios can be evaluated for possible modifications to the task, in order to identify the best method of keeping the task at the RWL.

 

 

Cut Down on Cuts

I just got e-mail from a colleague about an injury trend we’re seeing with our customers that is worth passing on to you. Peter Koch works with our hospitality businesses and has seen a rise in cuts and lacerations during food prep. Eleven injuries to the fingers and hands were reported since the start of August. Most were knife cuts with the most serious laceration happening while cleaning a meat slicer. 

How can an employer in the food and beverage industry cut down on cuts?                                               

• Train all new staff on knife skills.                                            
• Review safe work practices with your food prep staff, focusing on knife safety and cut prevention.
• Set performance expectations (i.e., personal protective equipment [PPE], skill level, consistency of cut) for knife users. Remember, anything you expect, you should inspect on a regular basis. Providing feedback on performance is a proven way to change behavior.

Knife Safety Tips  

• Keep knives sharp. If your knife is sharp, it will slide easily with little force. If the knife is blunt, you’ll have to force it and will have less control.
• Point away. When you are using a knife, don't cut toward you or your fingers.
• Don't leave sharp knives loose in a drawer. Banging around in a drawer will ruin the sharp edge and can be dangerous to someone reaching into the drawer.
• Don’t catch a dropped knife. If you drop a knife, step back and let it fall—don't try to catch it.
• Don’t put knives in the sink. Wash the knives separately in a designated bin or bucket.
• Consider using cut resistant gloves.
  

Meat Slicer Safety Tips (from WorkSafe BC)

• Provide written safe work procedures and training for each worker who uses a meat slicer.
• Use guards and glides at all times.
• Secure meat properly in the slicer, and ensure that the slicer is in the proper setting before cutting.
• Never reach across the blade.
• Turn the slicer off after use, setting the calibration back to zero.
• Unplug the slicer before cleaning it.
• Use cut-resistant gloves on both hands while cleaning the blade.

Here are more links on knife safety in the kitchen and hand-specific PPE: 

Knife Safety 

• Teen Worker Safety in Restaurants
• Handling Knives, Cuts and Burns
• Majestic Gloves                                                                         

Meat Slicer Safety  

• Operating the Meat Slicer