"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"

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While you're doing your job or completing tasks at home, you may be performing certain actions and movements over and over. If you're also using excessive force, failing to condition or relax your muscles sufficiently, or completing that task in a work area that hasn't been adjusted properly, you may be setting yourself up for a repetitive motion injury. Today, you'll learn what causes repetitive motion injury--known as RMI--and the steps you can take to prevent it. 

Repetitive motion injury is common among workers who consistently perform tasks that require them to repeat the same movements over and over.  The pain associated with repetitive motion injury most often affects the tendons, nerves, and muscles of the hands, wrists, elbows, arms, neck, and lower back.   

Estimates of the costs associated with work-related RMI’s range from 13 billion to $54 billion per year. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about one-third of all occupational injuries and illnesses are due to overexertion or repetitive motion.  Numerous case studies show that increased ergonomics-oriented awareness, training, and hazard reduction will reduce injuries, lost work time, and associated costs. 

Repetitive motion injury isn’t new.  It used to be referred to as “washerwoman’s thumb” or “telegraph operator’s cramp.”  But today, with the spread of automation and increased production demands, the incidence of this syndrome has rapidly increased.  Today, hundreds of thousands of cases are reported every year.  If the pain associated with this injury is ignored, permanent damage can result.  Fortunately, treatment can help – and establishing better work habits can prevent similar problems in the future.  

Ergonomics-related injuries can be reduced by improvements in equipment and work practices. An example is work in a nursing home, where an employee is more likely to be injured than is a worker in a coal mine or steel mill. The most common injury for a nursing home worker is back injury caused by lifting patients. These injuries can be reduced significantly by use of mechanical lifting and transfer devices for moving patients in and out of beds and chairs. 

Ergonomics is the applied science of equipment design and arrangement, intended to maximize productivity by reducing operator fatigue and discomfort. Injuries related to ergonomics are those caused by over-use, impact, vibration, repetition, forceful exertion. Largely injuries of the musculoskeletal systems of the body, these injuries include carpal tunnel syndrome, bursitis, tenosynovitis, tendinitis and others. These problems affect the muscles, ligaments and tendons as well as the nerves and blood vessels.

 HOW TO PREVENT SPRAINS, STRAINS AND OTHER INJURIES 

•  Keep cases close to the body when lifting and carrying in order to reduce stress on the back.
• Use thermal gloves when stocking cold items.  Cold temperatures can reduce circulation, causing stress on the hands.
• Use kneepads when stocking low shelves for long periods of time.  This reduces the stress on the knees and legs when kneeling.
• Use a step stool to reach items on the top of pallets or on high shelves.
• Use a kneeler or stool when working at low shelves for long periods of time.  This reduces stress on the knees and legs when squatting and kneeling.
• Rotate stocking tasks to avoid prolonged kneeling, squatting and overhead reaching
• Use a cart to move items from the pallet to the shelving or case where they are stocked.
• Keep cart wheels well maintained.  Wheels that are in poor repair can make carts difficult to push.  Racks or carts with bad wheels should be removed from service until they can be repaired.
• Arrange shelves so that heavy items and fast-moving items are stored within easy reach.  This reduces the stress on the body caused by bending or reaching overhead.
• Use the correct safety cutter for the job.  Be sure to use a left-handed cutter if you are left handed.
• Keep safety cutters sharp.  Using dull tools requires more force.  Replace cutter blades often.  
• Report improperly stacked pallets to the supplier to reduce future problems.
• Ensure that floors are free of debris and spills.  Report any floor problems that need repair immediately.
• Use boxes or totes with handholds, where suitable.
• Work with suppliers to get lighter weight that is manually lifted.  
• Use carts with larger wheels so they are easier to push.  Carts with raised bottom shelves are recommended so you can maintain a more neutral body position when lifting or placing items.
• Ensure that there is adequate room around carts and pallets for lifting tasks.  You should be able to walk around the pallet or cart, rather then reaching or bending.   
• Avoid congestion in aisles so you have adequate room to sort cases, open cases, mark merchandise and stock shelves. 
• We’ll try to equip stockrooms and central processing areas with roller bed conveyors and turntables to reduce lifting and carrying.  Maintain turntables so they move easily with little force applied.  Maintain rollers to reduce the pushing and pulling forces needed to handle cases.
• If a turntable is not used, place a flat piece on stainless steel over the end section of the roller bed, preferably with nonstick coating, to allow cases to be turned easily.  The metal surface should allow the cases to be easily pushed onto the roller bed.
• Use a powered hand jack or scissors-lift to raise pallets to waist height.
• Work with suppliers to obtain freight with pallet load heights that are within easy reach.  

 stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French inoxydable (inoxidizable), is a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5% chromium content by mass.Stainless steels are notable for their corrosion resistance, which increases with increasing chromium content.  Molybdenum additions increase corrosion resistance in reducing acids and against pitting attack in chloride solutions. Thus, there are numerous grades of stainless steel with varying chromium and molybdenum contents to suit the environment the alloy must endure. Thus stainless steels are used where both the strength of steel and corrosion resistance are required.Stainless steel’s resistance to corrosion and staining, low maintenance, and familiar lustre make it an ideal material for many applications. . Stainless steel's corrosion resistance, the ease with which it can be steam cleaned and sterilized and no need for other surface coatings has also influenced its use in commercial kitchens and food processing plants. 

Type 314 stainless steel is effectively a 310 type stainless with a higher level of silicon, for increased high-temperature oxidation resistance.

This grade is used in applications that take advantage of its excellent high-strength.