This section offers prevention and safety tips for a number of common activities that can lead to hand injury and trauma

Preventive Measures Can Reduce Strain Injuries

Work-related strain or other repetitive injuries can result in reduced productivity and increased worker compensation costs. Just as machines need preventive maintenance to operate at full capacity, physical job duties must be evaluated to prevent injuries and ensure your staff is performing optimally. Follow these suggestions to help prevent strain and repetitive injuries in your facility.

• Arrange for a local therapist to make a site visit to assess your work settings. The therapist can help to identify high-risk areas and recommend alternate configurations to reduce employee risk.
• Sometimes different tools are needed. If workers themselves start to add padding or modify how they are doing something, then the tools being used need to be re-evaluated for their effectiveness.
• Take 30 second breaks every 30 minutes when performing repetitive activities. Use this time to stretch the muscles in the opposite direction from your working pattern.
• If possible, break up your day with different activities to avoid over-repetition with one activity.
• If you do injure yourself in the area from your hand to your shoulder, be sure you see a medical doctor who specializes in this area and get proper treatment -- a small injury to the hand or arm can become a serious long-term disability if neglected. If you have a repetitive motion injury, have your doctor refer you to a hand therapist to assist in keeping you pain free while working.