To reduce the risk of low back injuries in a rehabilitation department, what is the FIRST step necessary to develop the program?

To reduce the risk of low back injuries in a rehabilitation department, what is the FIRST step necessary to develop the program?

• A. Include all employees in a lumbar extension exercise class
• B. Design a program that meets each department's functional needs
• C. Perform an ergonomic analysis on each workstation
• D. Provide pamphlets on proper body mechanics

Answer: (C)

The key idea is that you must first understand the actual work demands and risk factors in the environment before you can design an effective prevention program. An ergonomic analysis of each workstation reveals how tasks, tools, posture, lifting, repetition, and duration contribute to lumbar loads and potential injury. This baseline assessment helps identify which tasks drive risk, prioritize which changes will have the biggest impact, and guide the selection of interventions (engineering controls, workflow tweaks, training) that will most effectively reduce low back strain. From that foundation, you can tailor subsequent steps to the specific needs of the department—whether that means structured exercise or education, but those elements will be meaningful only if they target the real hazards uncovered by the analysis. Without this first assessment, interventions risk being generic, misaligned with actual tasks, or insufficient to reduce risk.

The key idea is that you must first understand the actual work demands and risk factors in the environment before you can design an effective prevention program. An ergonomic analysis of each workstation reveals how tasks, tools, posture, lifting, repetition, and duration contribute to lumbar loads and potential injury. This baseline assessment helps identify which tasks drive risk, prioritize which changes will have the biggest impact, and guide the selection of interventions (engineering controls, workflow tweaks, training) that will most effectively reduce low back strain.

From that foundation, you can tailor subsequent steps to the specific needs of the department—whether that means structured exercise or education, but those elements will be meaningful only if they target the real hazards uncovered by the analysis. Without this first assessment, interventions risk being generic, misaligned with actual tasks, or insufficient to reduce risk.