- Black Belts and Their Use in Preventing Back Injuries
- The use of black belts is one of the currently methods that companies apply in preventing back injuries on their employees while working. Many of the companies nowadays apply the use of black belts as a preventive measure because it offers support to the back. Therefore, many of the employers encourage their workers to use the black belts in order to avoid making any compensation related to back problems. Most companies offer the black belts for their employees without directly charging them anything. However, the companies require their employees to pay a higher amount of the health benefit costs in order to cater for the expenses of buying the black belts. The companies encourage their employees to enter into a lower salary in order to manage paying the extra costs of buying the black belts. Responsible managers try all they can to make sure that their employees do not use much of their salary in health benefit costs or any other costs that may benefit the running of the company and the authorities.
- According to one of the companies that help in making the black belts known as “Master Black Belt Manufactures”, using the belts while working has a number of advantages (Pyzdek & Keller, 2010). The manufacture states that black belts help employees to have fewer back injuries and problems. The belts also help employees to retain the proper posture therefore minimizing chances of having back problems. Moreover, the belts help employees to have the right movement and this help reduce back strain. The manufacture states that black belts helps in supporting the back especially when lifting loads (Pyzdek & Keller, 2010). Though the belts offer much support, the manufacture indicates that employees have the obligation of practicing proper footwork and lifting techniques in order to avoid more injuries related to the back. This is because most of the industrial areas where there are most employees affected by back injury problems are the warehouse and production sectors. The two departments have offers various obligations that require use of extra effort and labor. Therefore, the manufacture states that there is a need for all companies to use the black belts in order to safeguard the health of their employees (Pyzdek & Keller, 2010).
- The “National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) indicates that the issue of wearing a black belt while working should be an idea of individual employee (Okimoto & Eliena, 2009). NIOSH states that the reason for this neutral statement is there is no scientific research that supports or refutes the use of black belts. The organization states the best and effective way of preventing injuries related to the back especially when working is to implement an ergonomic program emphasizing on prevention of back injuries. Every company ought to establish such program in order to educate all the employees the best way to decrease and prevent back injuries. Although NIOSH questions the effective of the black belts, it states that their use have indicated a positive response in the prevention of back injuries. NIOSH indicates that research shows that most of the workers who use the belts tend to lift more weight while wearing them. This would not be the case if they would not have the same belts. This leads to a false sense of security that tend to lead many of the workers into a more risky situation ending-up to damage their backs. The best strategy to use in order to avoid back injuries according to NIOSH is to redesign the working environment and encourage the reduction of lifting hazards. In conclusion, NIOSH indicates that workers should not always assume that the use of black belts encourage safety of the back while working (Okimoto & Eliena, 2009).
- The information above shows that the use of black belts fails to be the best option to go for in our organization in order to reduce the risk of back injuries especially in the warehouse and production departments. Lack of proper scientific research that back up the use of black belt is one of the main reasons why the option of using them is not the best. The best strategy to use in the organization is to set up a program that will help all the employees to prevent back injuries rather than wait for cure. According to the strategy, one of the best ideas to implement is to encourage all the workers practice proper footwork. This means that employees ought to position their feet in the recommended manner always. While stretching, the employees ought to use yoga or a similar mart especially on a hard floor. It is recommended to always slightly bend the knees while standing against a wall. This habit will always help the employees to prevent back injuries (Okimoto & Eliena, 2009).
- While trying to solve the issue of the black belts in the organization, the best strategy to use as the safety manager is to employ hard bargaining. This means that I will be able to speak on behave of all employees on the issue of lowering the health benefit costs. This will make the salary indicated on the pay role of all employees to rise (Kuijer et al., 2006). However, it is also recommendable to accept different opinions from employees and the public in order to make sure that everything that is necessary in ensuring low costs in finding the best way of preventing back injuries is applied. The other important issue to apply is to convince the organization to use other preventive measures (Kuijer et al., 2006). For example, the organization may increase the number of employees so that they may help in making the workforce simpler. For example, it is easy to pay salary to an extra employee than compensate one in case of a back injury. Making negotiations with the employees and other members of the management is the best option that as a safety manager I have an obligation to make in order to come up with the best strategy of preventing more back injuries in future (Kuijer et al., 2006).
- References
- Kuijer, W., Dijkstra, P., Brouwer, S., Reneman, M., Groothoff, J., & Geertzen, J. (2006). Safe lifting in patients with chronic low back pain: comparing FCE Lifting Task and Niosh Lifting Guideline. Journal Of Occupational Rehabilitation, 16(4), 579-589.
- Okimoto,M.L. R & Eliena R. T. (2009). Proposed procedures for measuring the lifting task variables required by the Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation – A case study. International Journal Of Industrial Ergonomics, 3915-22.
- Pyzdek, T., & Keller, P. A. (2010). The Six Sigma handbook: A complete guide for green belts, black belts, and managers at all levels. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies.
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