NIOSH: Back Belts Don’t Prevent Injuries

After an extensive two year study of workers in jobs with high exposure to heavy lifting, the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found no evidence that back belts reduce back injury or back pain. The results are consistent with a previous NIOSH study, reported in 1994.

The results of these studies are important for several reasons. Back belts, also called back supports or abdominal belts, have been widely used in recent years to prevent worker injury during lifting. Approximately four million back belts were purchased for workplace use in 1995 alone. Back injuries cost the economy billions of dollars each year.

The new study found no significant difference between the number of workers’ compensation claims for back injuries by employees who used back belts regularly, with those who either never used back belts, or used them occasionally.

The findings support existing NIOSH and OSHA recommendations that companies should make workplaces safer instead of relying on back belts. Injuries should be prevented by eliminating hazardous conditions in the workplace, primarily through engineering controls.

Engineering controls in lifting situations might include mechanical assists, adjustment of the height of the surface from which or to which material is lifted, or elimination of unnecessary bending or twisting in the task through workstation and equipment design.

“Although the Bush Administration’s rejection of the ergonomics standard issued by the Clinton-Gore Administration has been a huge blow to advocates for workers’ health and safety, we’re not going to give up fighting for safer work methods and working conditions,” said BAC Executive Vice President Jerry O’Malley. “We’ll continue to inform our members, and work with our contractors to make every job site safer for our members. It’s a sad day when our elected officials think it’s better to cripple a worker than to encourage an employer to make the work place safe,” says O’Malley.

For more information about back belts, visit www.cdc.gov/niosh/
backbelt.html.