Page 24 - OHS, October 2021

TRAINING: MATERIALS HANDLING
Eliminate Five Leading Causes of
Material Handler Injuries with Training
Training should teach employees how to avoid the most common material handling injuries.
BY KAREN HAMEL
Much of a new material handling an employee’s training tends to focus around how to safely operate a forklift or powered industrial truck. Recognizing safe clearances, navigating turns, avoiding pedestrians
and securing loads are all learned skills that help operators to maneuver mechanical devices safely. However, training should also teach them how to avoid the most common material handling injuries.
Material handling incidents are the most frequent cause of workplace injuries, according to The Travelers Companies.
Increasing awareness through training can help prevent incidents, reduce reportable injuries and promote safer working conditions.
Sprains and Strains
It is no secret that sprains and strains are the most common types of worktime injuries. Material handlers in manufacturing and retail settings experienced nearly 40 percent of the 295,180 reported sprain and strain injuries in 2019, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Even when carts, conveyors, dollies, cranes and other
20 Occupational Health & Safety | OCTOBER 2021
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