Why do health care workers suffer such high rates of back injuries?
Nurses, nursing assistants, and home health care aids who provide direct patient care spend a large amount of the day lifting, moving and transferring patients, to and from the toilet, in and out of bed, from a wheel chair to a geri chair. If the proper lifting equipment is not available to do this lifting, the health care worker puts his or her back at great risk of getting injured. Risk of back injury in healthcare workplaces occurs not only during patient/residents handling tasks but while performing other tasks as well in the kitchen, laundry, engineering, and housekeeping areas of facilities, for example during: transporting of equipment, moving food carts or other heavy carts, pouring liquids out of heavy pots or containers, reaching into deep sinks or containers, using hand tools, and during housekeeping tasks.
