Operating power tools and other heavy equipment can gradually cause wear and tear on the body. Illinois construction workers — as well as those who work in various other industries — know this too well. Whole-body vibrations from operating equipment can lead to a multitude of health problems, especially to the hands and limbs.

A Safety + Health Magazine article scrutinizes one of the most common health problems, known as hand-arm vibration syndrome. This condition is defined by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) as “a collective term for vibration-induced neurological, vascular and musculoskeletal disorders in the hand-arm system.”

About 3:30 p.m. on April 27 on Mercer Street in Seattle:

• 19-year-old Sarah Wong and 71-year-old Alan Justad were sitting in their cars in traffic.
• Nine stories over their heads, ironworkers Andrew Yoder, 31, and Travis Corbet, 33, were dismantling a crane.
• All four were killed when the crane collapsed. Another four people on the street were injured.

The human body is a truly incredible feat of nature. We are able to lift large amounts of weight repeatedly and are able to build up our endurance to the point where we can do this over extended periods of time.

The human body isn’t invincible, however. If we do not exercise proper technique and posture when performing physical activities, the human body can break down over time, leading to injuries and health problems that can shorten our quality of life.

For people who work in manufacturing, sitting at a workstation for many hours at a time, good posture is of the utmost importance.

Shame and fear of being judged make many Americans less likely to take off time from work for mental health issues than for physical ailments, a Harris Poll survey said.

Those who work in construction, manufacturing, and other industrial sectors often operate or work around heavy mobile equipment, such as forklifts and cranes.

Accidents involving large equipment can be prevented by inspecting and fixing mechanical defects, practicing safety measures when operating the machinery, and ensuring that equipment is completely turned off when not in use.

Some occupations require strenuous physical movements: lifting, pushing, pulling, and reaching. If you work in construction, manufacturing, or landscaping, exertion may simply be part of your job. In other occupations that require only some physical movements, workers may overexert themselves to get ahead or move up.

While many employees strive to be safe at work, little consideration is often given to their physical well-being. In fact, according to the National Safety Council (NSC), overexertion is responsible for 35 percent of all work-related injuries and the culprit behind the majority of workers’ compensation claims.

Large companies are few and far between in the construction industry. According to a quarterly report released by the Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR), who collect data based on the fatality rates among construction companies, around 82 of these types of businesses in 2016 were composed of fewer than 10 employees.

Unlike larger establishments, smaller construction companies may be more likely to lack adequate oversight, ignore certain safety procedures, and cut corners to save time and money.

Sometimes you try to ignore it. Tough it out. Play through it. Take an extra aspirin or pain killer. But sometimes, muscle pain just won’t go away and eventually overwhelms you. You can feel the pain in your lower back when you remember the patient you lifted as part of your job. Or when you swung a hammer that afternoon and felt a radiating pain by closing time. Now, it’s the next day. Or the day after. And the pain’s still there. The pain’s still real. And it won’t go away.

Most of us first hear about rotator cuff tears when our favorite pitcher is put on the disabled list for the rest of the season. We know the injury is a shoulder issue, but we often aren’t sure of the details. At Schweickert & Ganassin LLP, our workers’ compensation attorneys know the effect these injuries can have on workers. 

It’s often not until we ourselves suffer the injury that we learn a rotator cuff is a cluster of muscles and tendons surrounding the shoulder joint that keeps the top part of the arm bone tucked firmly within the socket of the shoulder.

Any building boom, like the one Northern Illinois currently is experiencing, can lead to a shortage of skilled construction workers – which in turn can often lead to more construction accidents.