16 year old son just put his back out due to lifting at work

Vashti

My son started a part time job in a large supermarket a month ago, and it turns out the main part of his job is leaning awkwardly into huge metal cages to pull out and lift boxes. He then has to maneouvre them onto a trolley, take them out to the store, empty them and stack the shelves.

Lat week he complained of a sore back, last night it was agony after his four hour shift and today I got a phone call saying could I come to school to pick him up, as his back had siezed/spasmed and he was in agony. It took two six foot friends to get him out of the chair and along the corridor to the sick room. He managed to hobble ashen faced out to the car, and is presently lying on the floor with a hot water bottle, looking very sorry for himself.

Got him to the doc, who said he has probably nipped a disc, and it should settle down, gave him Naprosyn and Ibuprofen and told us to come back on Monday if it was no better.

He phoned his work to say he wouldn't be in for his shift on Sunday, and spoke to his line manager. As he is on his 12 week probation, he was told if he was not expected to have time off at all. He said the main part of the job is lifting, and if my son couldn't do that it would put them all in a difficult position.

I want to phone them up and ask about their moving and handling procedures...and why a sixteen year old 'gung ho, keen as mustard trying to impress his boss' teenager was allowed to damage his back lifting boxes when they should be using a fork lift.

Any advice on what do do?

floyd

Ask your son if he was given training or info on how to lift correctly, think its referred to as 'Manual Handling'. I know it sounds silly but health and safety laws state that all staff should be instructed in the correct posture for lifting. It may not have been explained to him verbally, it could be contained in any induction papers he was given.
I would be surprised if a company such as a large supermarket had overlooked this but just check anyway. The HSE leaflet is below

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg143.pdf

onamission_2

has your son been trained properly? manual handling training should have been done before he started any lifting work. if not then employers have been negligant (sp?) - shouldn't matter that he's on probation. Not up to speed with law but above is based on what I know from my previous job.

Try to keep your son mobile but no lifting until the pain clears off. If not clearing up by monday then suggest you get a osteopath/chiropractor or acupuncturist to check him out as if its not sorted out now he could have long term problems.

hth onamission.

MajorR

welcome to the real world! makes you mad doesnt it, especially when you think of the lazy groups of people who have no intention of doing a days work.

1.You said he has to lean into a cage to lift the heavy weights out, so bending from the knee is out of the question. so you might what to ask what the companies risk assement of that task is & measures they take to prevent injury´s to there employes.

2.Are the insurance company of the supermarket aware of the risk of the task your son was doing, their insurance would be void if they didnt disclose all dangers with in the workplace.

get in touch with acas, they´ll advise you best.
http://www.acas.org.uk/

best of luck

Curious_George_2

MajorR wrote: »

2.Are the insurance company of the supermarket aware of the risk of the task your son was doing, their insurance would be void if they didnt disclose all dangers with in the workplace.

im pretty sure they are... seeing as there is no other way of getting boxes of stuff off the cages,

to the OP, im sorry your son has hurt himself but he must of been doing it wrong, i worked in a supermarket and they didnt exactly "train" me about the way to lift things, but there should be posters around (maybe in the staff room) and it would also have been in any starters paperwork he recieved... like a staff handbook.
in my experience supermarket bosses are the WORST at training the staff for anything... unless its something high profile that they have been told off from about about (like the ID21 rule)
the average member of staff in my local co-op is a 50 year old woman and they do all their own unloading of the cages... as i also did (except i was 20 - 30 years younger than them!)
the only time i refused to do the lifting was when i was pregnant!

tell the boss that your very sorry that he thinks this will be a problem but if he trained his staff properly in the first place then your boy wouldnt be injured,
but if my shop is anything to go by... dont expect much of a reaction.

ailuro2

Sorry your DS has hurt himself.

I had kinetic lifting training in my first day as an apprentice fitter- any job that involves lifting should provide it,and if it doesn't then how good are it's other health and safety standards?

It only takes an hour to do it, but it will save a lifetime of back pain,and also many sick days- it's common sense for empoyers and employees!

If he has to lean into a trolley to pull stuff out, then I'd suggest he uses his elbow as a lever to stop himself from putting pressure on his back-When the cartons are lower then he can use an arm resting just above his knee for the same thing- however, longer term,they need to think about getting the trolleys changed so the sides fold down and allow a proper 'palmer grip' lift, preferably at waist height.
If they are expecting people to do this all day long they need to make it as good a lift as possible- btw, what kind of weights is he lifting- for a boy his age the max is around 18KG lifted kinetically in at the body at waist height.;)

Psykicpup

I know this has been asked already but had he had his manual handling training? He shouldnt have been allowed to lift anything let alone lifting & turning if he hadnt. I'm not surprised that his manager said it 'would put them in a very difficult situation....' yup manager's head on the block for not ensure PWP (proper working practices) have been followed! - Sorry it makes me angry when employers try to 'bully' young employees for their own inadequatices (sp)

It used to be if someone was off work though an injury sustained at work for more than 3 days an investigation would have to be held - I believe.
Will scout the net for you ....

Psykicpup

These may be of interest - esp the 1st three & esp 1st one.....

http://www.hse.gov.uk/youngpeople/index.htm

http://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/backpain/workers.htm

http://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/backpain/employers.htm

http://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/mac/index.htm

Contact HSE Infoline 0845 345 0055

Vashti

Thanks all.

He is working from 5- 10 one night a week, and then again 1-10 one day at the weekend, so those are long hours to spend constantly lifting and shifting boxes. Especially when you have never done it before and using muscles that you have never used. It also doesnt help that due to a bad accident when he was five his left hand is very weak so he is probably also compensating his bad grip by pulling the boxes tighter to his chest when he lifts them.

I think I will ignore my feeling of being an interfering mother and phone personnel on Monday to ask if there is anything they can do to make sure he does not make things worse for his back.

Maybe he can go on check outs or something...but he isn't 18 so I don't know their policy on that

Vashti

Psykicpup - he had all of five mins in the warehouse with his 'buddy' before he was left to get on with it. He is a typical teenager - never lifted a finger let alone a box - so he is probably doing it all completely wrong. He even asked me after two days to show him the best way to move a heavy box, I explained about bending from the knee, not the waist etc but he then said he has to reach in to pull the boxes out of a cage at hip height, so he is not lifting them off the floor.

Off to look at your links - many thanks for taking the time for that. Much appreciated.xx

Vashti

ailuro2 wrote: »

Sorry your DS has hurt himself.

I had kinetic lifting training in my first day as an apprentice fitter- any job that involves lifting should provide it,and if it doesn't then how good are it's other health and safety standards?

It only takes an hour to do it, but it will save a lifetime of back pain,and also many sick days- it's common sense for empoyers and employees!

If he has to lean into a trolley to pull stuff out, then I'd suggest he uses his elbow as a lever to stop himself from putting pressure on his back-When the cartons are lower then he can use an arm resting just above his knee for the same thing- however, longer term,they need to think about getting the trolleys changed so the sides fold down and allow a proper 'palmer grip' lift, preferably at waist height.
If they are expecting people to do this all day long they need to make it as good a lift as possible- btw, what kind of weights is he lifting- for a boy his age the max is around 18KG lifted kinetically in at the body at waist height.;)

Fantastic informative post - I really appreciate it.

He says some of the boxes make him grunt slightly when he lifts them ..but he can manage, I don't know how heavy that would be....but as there are women in their doing the same thing I doubt he would ever admit to being unable to handle the boxes. Knowing him this is probably exactly the bravado attitude that made him over do it in the first place.