Biomechanical Hazards in the Dockworker

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Abstract
The Dock industry has reached the advent of decasualisation and is at a critical point in its history. It is therefore appropriate to undertake a review now of the Safety and Health record under the past Casual system of employment. In spite of increasing mechanisation the biomechanical demands of dock work are still heavy and the insults resulting from load handling are reflected in the high morbidity statistics of the “wear and tear” conditions. The spinal apparatus is particularly vulnerable to both the long-term and immediate effects. Comparison of the 1966 “three day” industrial injuries in the shipbuilding and dock industries shows that workers in the latter experienced an injury incidence double that of the former. In dockworkers the trunk, spine, and hand were the most affected anatomical sites and only the eye was more vulnerable in shipbuilding personnel. Analysis of the three day injuries in registered dockworkers shows that handling was the most common operational hazard but that direct trauma was responsible for much of the injury. The relationship between trauma arising extrinsically and intrinsically is of particular significance in the aetiology and prevention of back injuries. The elimination of the effects of biomechanical hazards in dock work with their very high injury morbidity depends upon much greater safety discipline than has been exercised in the past. The teaching of safehandling methods is considered with reference to the acquisition of new lifting posture.

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