An ergonomic assessment of the airline baggage handler

50Traditionally, education on lifting technique and back injury has long been theanswer for many establishments faced with this problem. Although most companiesthought that this technique was rewarding, continued research on this topic revealed thatthis was the least effective means, especially when it was implemented as the only meansof control. It was shortly thereafter in the middle 80's that companies, in the attempt tobe more proactive, started to use weightlifting belts as a protective means against lumbarback injury.Research theorized that increased intra-abdominal pressure (lAP) reduced thecompressive forces in the lumbar spine area while lifting, and it was shown inexperiments that weightlifting belts aids in increase the intra-abdominal pressure duringlifting. It followed that weightlifting belts should then act to reduce the lumber injury tothe lower back and spine. There was also a study that experimented with an inflatablecorset that decreased abdominal muscle activities while still increasing intra-abdominalpressure, which supported the earlier findings (Morris, J.M, et al., 1961). In a study byMcCoy, it was shown that even more weight could be lifted with this type of inflatedsupport belt (McCoy, 1986). Studies done by Hawaiian Airlines claimed that backinjuries had taken a reduction during a time period of usage (Okada, 1987).Despite the favorability of earlier findings, there was a contingent of studies thatyielded unfavorable results for the usage of weightlifting belts, which left safetyprofessionals divided on this topic. It was theorized that having a test subject get injuredduring the course of a study is the only accurate way to determine the effectiveness of theweightlifting belts as a preventative means of lumbar injury (Lander et al, 1990).