Reducing the risks of back pain in the workplace

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Reducing the risks

Reducing the risks of back pain in the workplace

Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and regulations 10 and 13 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to provide their employees with health and safety information and training. This should be supplemented as necessary with more specific information and training on manual handling injury risks and prevention, as part of the steps to reduce risk required by regulation 4(1)(b)(ii) of the Regulations.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require suitable and sufficient assessments of health and safety risks at work to be carried out, so that the necessary preventive and protective measures can be taken, including health surveillance. Accidents and ill health can ruin lives and affect your business. You are legally required to assess the risks in your workplace so that you put in place a plan to control the risks.

Employees also have a responsibility for health and safety.

As an employee, you should:

  • take reasonable care of your own health and safety and the health and safety of anyone who might be affected by what you are doing
  • co-operate with your employer on health and safety – for instance, follow rules, warnings or guidance
  • inform your employer or manager if you see something that might harm you or someone else. (You can refuse to do something that isn't safe without being threatened with disciplinary action. If you think your employers are not meeting their responsibilities, talk to them first.)


Reducing the risks of back pain at work includes a range of different measures and may be grouped into:

  • Risk assessment
  • Manual handling
  • Display Screen Equipment
  • Driving
  • Other risk factors


Below you can find more information on these aspects of reducing the risks of back pain.

Risk assessment

A risk assessment is simply a careful examination of what, in your work, could cause harm to people, so that you can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm.

So, for example, a risk assessment might involve:

  • Identifying the hazards
  • Deciding who might be harmed and how
  • Evaluating the risks and deciding on precautions
  • Recording findings and implementing them
  • Reviewing the assessment and updating if necessary

It is good for people to use their bodies at work. It is important not to give the message that working means harm. However, in some instances, people can overload their musculoskeletal system at work without any symptoms being evident in the early stages. This could be from sitting for too long as well as from doing what might traditionally be thought of as ‘heavy’ jobs. It is important, therefore, to carry out risk assessments across your work site to identify any possible musculoskeletal hazards to which the workforce are being exposed, in order to prevent any cases occurring.

Assessments for MSD risks could be manual handling risk assessments, display screen equipment risk assessments, general ergonomics assessments or, specifically, upper limb disorder risk assessments. A number of risk assessment tools are outlined below and some can be found on the HSE website.

Don’t overcomplicate the process. In many organisations, the risks are well known and the necessary control measures are easy to apply. If you run a small organisation and you are confident you understand what’s involved, you can do the assessment yourself. You don’t have to be a health and safety expert.

The fact that a person has a disability does not necessarily mean that he represents an additional risk to health and safety. Employers should only do a risk assessment if the person’s disability changes the way they work. Employers might need to make changes to keep workers with disabilities, and other workers safe, eg someone with limited mobility may need a buddy to help evacuate them in case of a fire.

Employers have a duty under health and safety legislation to make sure the risks to health in the workplace are properly controlled. An employer has to appoint a 'competent person' with health and safety responsibilities (usually one of the owners in smaller firms, or a member of staff trained in health and safety).

For businesses employing five or more people, there must also be:

  • an official record of what the assessment finds (your employer has to put plans in place to deal with the risks)
  • a formal health and safety policy, including arrangements to protect your health and safety (you should be told what these are)

Manual handling (including lifting, bending, twisting), poor posture (such as sitting at a poorly designed workstation or PC) and whole body vibration (which occurs, for example when you drive heavy vehicles) are known risk factors for back pain. Accidents, such as trips and falls can also be a factor.

It is important that managers talk to their staff; who know what they find difficult and often have good ideas about how to improve things. If there are safety representatives appointed by trade unions that you recognise, the law requires an employer to consult them.

Manual Handling

The risk of injury from a manual handling task will be increased where workers do not have the information or training necessary to enable them to work safely. For example, if they do not know about any unusual characteristics of loads or about the system designed to ensure their safety during manual handling, this may lead to injury. It is essential that where, for example, mechanical handling aids are available, training is provided in their proper use.

The provision of information and training alone will not ensure safe manual handling. It should not be regarded as a substitute for a safe system of work.

Manual handling training is likely to include advice on:

  • manual handling risk factors and how injuries can occur
  • how to carry out safe manual handling, including good handling techniques
  • appropriate systems of work for the individual's task and environment
  • use of mechanical aids
  • practical work to allow the trainer to identify and put right anything the trainee is not doing safely.

Employers should establish a planned training programme to ensure all staff receive basic training, with updates as required.

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (as amended) set no specific requirements such as weight limits. Instead, an ergonomic assessment based on a range of relevant factors is used to determine the risk of injury and point the way to remedial action.

The Regulations establish the following clear hierarchy of control measures:

  • Avoid hazardous manual handling operations so far as is reasonably practicable, for example by redesigning the task to avoid moving the load or by automating or mechanising the process.
  • Make a suitable and sufficient assessment of any hazardous manual handling operations that cannot be avoided.
  • Reduce the risk of injury from those operations so far as is reasonably practicable. Where possible, you should provide mechanical assistance, for example a sack trolley or hoist. Where this is not reasonably practicable, look at ways of changing the task, the load and working environment.

Handling by two or more people may make possible an operation that is beyond the capability of one person, or reduce the risk of injury to a single handler. However, team handling may introduce additional problems which the assessment should consider. The load that a team can handle safely is less than the sum of the loads that the individual team members could cope with when working alone. Teams of more than four members are unlikely to work successfully.

Some general tips to help avoid problems include:

  • making sure loads are not handled above shoulder height or in cramped working areas
  • arranging cover for holidays and unexpected absences so that individuals are not left to cope alone with handling normally done by two or more workers
  • keeping the workplace clear of obstructions that can cause trip and slip accidents when handling loads.

Ergonomics is sometimes described as 'fitting the job to the person, rather than the person to the job'. The ergonomic approach looks at manual handling as a whole. It takes into account a range of relevant factors, including the nature of the task, the load, the working environment and individual capability and requires worker participation.

When a more detailed assessment is necessary it should follow the broad structure set out in Schedule 1 to the Regulations, taking into account the working environment and individual capability.

HSE have produced the manual handling assessment chart (MAC) to assist employers with their manual handling assessments. Its use does not comprise a full risk assessment. Also, the MAC is not designed to assess risks from workplace upper limb disorders. The MAC tool can be found on the HSE website.

Display Screen equipment (DSE)

The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 implement an EC Directive and came into effect from January 1999 (some small changes were made in 2002). The Regulations require employers to minimise the risks in using display screens and computer workstations by ensuring that workplaces and jobs are well designed. Employers need to look at the whole workstation including equipment, furniture, and the work environment, the job being done and any special needs of individual staff.

Regulations stipulate that regular users should have breaks.

Employers have to provide training, to make sure employees can use their VDU and workstation safely, and know how to make best use of it to avoid health problems, for example, by adjusting the chair.

Whenever possible, jobs at display screens should be designed to consist of a mix of screen-based and non screen-based work to prevent fatigue and to vary visual and mental demands. Where the job unavoidably contains spells of intensive display screen work (whether using the keyboard or an input device, reading the screen, or a mixture of the two), these should be broken up by periods of non-intensive, non-display screen work. Where work cannot be so organised, eg in jobs requiring only data or text entry requiring sustained attention and concentration, deliberate breaks or pauses must be introduced.

Where the display screen work involves intensive use of the keyboard, any activity that would demand broadly similar use of the arms or hands should be avoided during breaks. Breaks must also allow users to vary their posture.

  • breaks should be taken before the onset of fatigue. The timing of the break is more important than its length
  • breaks or changes of activity should be included in working time. They should not result in a higher pace or intensity of work on account of their introduction
  • short, frequent breaks are more satisfactory than occasional, longer breaks. If possible, breaks should be taken away from the screen
  • wherever practicable, users should be allowed some discretion as to how they carry out tasks; individual control over the nature and pace of work allows optimal distribution of effort over the working day.


Laptops and other portables have small keyboards and other features that can make prolonged use uncomfortable. It is best to avoid using a portable on its own if full-sized equipment is available. And like other VDU users, people who habitually use a portable should be trained how to minimise risks. Wherever possible, portables should be placed on a firm surface at the right height for keying.

Intensive use of a mouse, trackball, or similar pointing device may give rise to aches and pains in the fingers, hands, wrists, arms or shoulders. Risks can be reduced by adopting a good posture and technique. Take frequent breaks. It can help to support your arm, for example on the desk surface or arm of a chair. If you still find using the mouse awkward, you could try a different shaped or sized one, or another device such as a trackball.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published two other guidance booklets giving detailed information on the Display Screen Equipment Regulations.

If you use a computer and think you have health problems connected with your work, it’s best to talk to your supervisor, manager or safety representative first. If this doesn’t help, contact your nearest local office of the Health and Safety Executive, as listed in the telephone directory.

Driving

People who spend long hours driving as part of their job may be at greater risk of developing back pain. Employers should carry out risk assessments for work involving long hours driving a vehicle as they do for other types of work.

Vehicle seats should be considered and use of additional support such as lumbar rolls may be helpful.

If you have had, or currently suffer from a medical condition or disability that may affect your driving you must tell the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). You'll also need to provide details if you develop a new condition or disability or one that has become worse since your licence was issued.

Other factors

As well as physical factors, there may be other factors which can increase the risk of people being unable to work because of back pain. This is because the course of an episode of back pain and the likely outcome are affected by psychological and social factors as well as physical factors.

For example, consider

  • An individual’s control over their work and decision-making rights
  • An individual’s support from and communication with their line manager
  • Clarity about an individual’s role at work
  • Changes at work which are proving stressful