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Case 15: Back pain resulting in long-term absence (30 weeks)

Company

  Major multi-site biscuit and snack manufacturer with an Occupational Health Department (OHD). This site, based in the northeast, has 800 employees.

Injury

An employee had been absent on numerous occasions (totalling 26 weeks) with a ‘bad back’.  Previous rehabilitation plans had not worked.  A further extended absence of 4 weeks followed.

Intervention

  A report was obtained from her specialist surgeon following which the company’s physiotherapist saw the employee to assess her current condition and offer treatment. The treatment consisted of advice, physiotherapy and acupuncture.

The employee subsequently indicated she felt fit to return to work on restricted duties. A return-to-work risk assessment was carried out involving the physiotherapist, the employee and her manager. This involved visiting the work area and going through each task the employee was required to perform, using a job safety analysis approach.

A detailed report was submitted by the physiotherapist to the employee’s manager to make him aware of the restrictions required should the individual return to work.  Unfortunately, in this case, the restrictions were so great that she was not judged suitable to perform her role and no other suitable jobs were available.

Lessons learned

  This was clearly a complicated case and it would have been better to involve specialist knowledge at an earlier stage.

Link URLs in this page

  1. Food & drink manufacturehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/index.htm
  2. Common risks - in food and drink manufacturing industrieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/industries.htm
  3. Meat, poultry and fishhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/slaughter.htm
  4. Milling, animal feedshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/grain.htm
  5. Bakery productshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/bakery.htm
  6. Dairy productshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/dairy.htm
  7. Fruit and vegetableshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/fruitveg.htm
  8. Alcoholic and soft drinkshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/drink.htm
  9. Chilled and frozen products https://www.hse.gov.uk/food/chilled.htm
  10. Supply chainhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/chain.htm
  11. Safety risks overviewhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/safety-hazards.htm
  12. Manual handlinghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/handling.htm
  13. Slips on wet or contaminated floorshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/slips.htm
  14. Falls from heighthttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/falls.htm
  15. Workplace transporthttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/transport.htm
  16. Struck by somethinghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/struckby.htm
  17. Overview - Food processing machineryhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/machinery.htm
  18. European CEN 'C' Standards for food processing machineshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/standards.htm
  19. Packaging machineryhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/package.htm
  20. Overview - Prevention of dust explosionshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/dustexplosion.htm
  21. Selection and use of vacuum cleanershttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/dustexplosionapp1.htm
  22. Explosion relief for small bins and siloshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/dustexplosionapp2.htm
  23. Overview - Occupational health topicshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/healthtopics.htm
  24. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)https://www.hse.gov.uk/food/musculoskeletal.htm
  25. Dermatitishttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/dermatitis.htm
  26. Noise induced hearing losshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/noise.htm
  27. Overviewhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/asthma.htm
  28. Low dust flourhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/low-flour-dust.htm
  29. Exposure to disinfectantshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/disinfectants.htm
  30. Work-related stresshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/stress.htm
  31. Overview - Occupational rehabilitationhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/rehabilitation/index.htm
  32. OH Case studieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/rehabilitation/casestudies.htm
  33. Overview - Resourceshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/information.htm
  34. Case studieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/experience.htm
  35. Useful linkshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/links.htm
  36. Food and Drink Manufacture Health and Safety Forumhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/forum.htm
  37. Topics of interesthttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/live.htm
  38. Case studies menuhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/rehabilitation/casestudies.htm
  39. Previous case studyhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/rehabilitation/case14.htm
  40. Next case studyhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/rehabilitation/case16.htm
  41. A recipe for safety: Occupational health and safety in food and drink manufacturehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg252.htm
  42. Moving food and drink: Manual handling solutions for the food and drink industries https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg196.htm
  43. Case studieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/experience.htm
  44. Food Standards Agencyhttps://www.food.gov.uk/
  45. Slips and tripshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/slips/index.htm
  46. Fallshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/work-at-height/index.htm
  47. Musculoskeletal disordershttps://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/index.htm
  48. Workplace transport micrositehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/workplacetransport/index.htm
  49. Equipment at workhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/work-equipment-machinery/index.htm
  50. Back painhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/backpain/index.htm
  51. Pushing and pullinghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/pushpull/index.htm
  52. MAC toolhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/mac/index.htm
  53. Food and Drink Manufacturing Forumhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/food/forum.htm
  54. Federation of Bakers (FoB)https://www.fob.uk.com/
  55. Craft Bakers Associationhttps://www.craftbakersassociation.co.uk/
  56. British Meat Processors Association (BMPA)https://britishmeatindustry.org/
  57. Dairy UKhttps://www.dairyuk.org/
  58. Chilled Foods Association (CFA)https://www.chilledfood.org/
  59. British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF)https://www.bfff.co.uk/
  60. Food Standards Agencyhttps://www.food.gov.uk/
  61. IOSH Food and Drink Grouphttps://www.iosh.co.uk/groups/food_and_drink_group.aspx

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Updated 2023-06-15