Back Injury

[john6574]

Hello,

New to this form thanks for letting me join.

I was just wondering if anyone has had the experience of injuring their back lifting their flight bags into or out of the flight deck?

I did and lost my CAT 1 medical due to disc protrusion into the spinal cord. I get my corrective surgery (I hope it's corrective) the surgeon says maybe.

My company has two pilots in my base off work with this issue and sixteen pilots have reported injuries. Our flight bags are quite heavy and do pose a threat to the health of pilots as they age. Just curious as to the experiences of other pilots regarding this subject.

Regards, John

[Pace]

Back injury is not exclusive to pilots as they get older I had far more back problems in my 20s than ever in my 50s.
Before considering your case I would look at how active you are? Is your weight what it should be how much stress do you carry etc! Ie is the case the final straw that broke the camels back or the item that caused it to break?

Hope you dont take this the wrong way as it is supposed to be constructive.
Hope the op works out well

Pace

[john6574]

No offense taken, as for the condition I'm not what I used to be but regardless of that what I am concerned about is pilot flight bags exceding safe lifting weight and an unsafe lift. Regional aircraft flight decks are low and small these ergonomics are causing pilots to lift a heavy bag and it is the weight, bad lift and the repitition that cause a cumulative damage to pilots, these effects are most likely to affect a pilot as they age past forty. These stats are a result of two ergonomic reports done in my company. Sixteen of our pilots have reported injuries and the two reports make recomendations and as of yet have not been implimented. The physical condition of a pilot while important does not prevent injury it just reduces the likelyhood of injury. None the less these injuries are cumulative and one day as in my case injury occurs.

Thanks,
John

[gingernut]

There are some EU guidelines re: lifting and handling, (training, maximum weights etc,) - not sure if it's apt in Vancouver.:)

Relating your condition to your work maybe difficult. The "classical" image is of the back suddenly "giving" but the picture is usually more complex than that, and is related to years of abuse, rather than a sudden incident.

[john6574]

That is so true. The ergonomic reports on this state that fact and give a warning to make the bag weight lighter or go to an electronic format as has happened at United, Alaska and American. They went to the Ipad and that has just received FAA approval. The Canadian law specifies a max weight of 10 kilograms (22.5lb). The reports show actual bag weights exceding that limit by as much as 12 pounds. Our pilots are ditching unnecesary charts from the bag. This however does expose the pilot to other risks. It is not right that pilots have to break a law to protect their health, the company ought to be more proactive and correct this problem instead of flying in the face of work place safety rules.

John