Sunless Operator Safety

[RickMattoon]

Staff at American Tanning Institute have received several emails & phone calls lately from salon owners and staff asking about safety issues during the sunless spray application. The following is an excerpt from our Sunless Certification Course found at www.TanningProgram.com:

Sunless Operator Safety
Excerpt From Chapter 4
ATI Sunless Certification Course


The sunless operator must practice application techniques founded upon training and proper standards that not only protect the client but the operator as well. In addition to using equipment and accessories consistent with the purpose for which they were designed, the operator must adhere to practices that help reduce or eliminate the opportunity for injury.
Back Disorders

The physical demands that a sunless operator experiences can lead to unintended injuries if preventative measures are not met. Back disorders can develop gradually as a result of microtrauma brought about by repetitive activity over time or can be the product of a single traumatic event. Because of the slow and progressive onset of this internal injury, the condition is often ignored until the symptoms become acute, often resulting in disabling pain.

Acute back injuries can be the immediate result of improper lifting techniques and/or lifting loads that are too heavy for the back to support. While the acute injury may seem to be caused by a single well-defined incident, the real cause is often a combined interaction of the observed stressor coupled with years of weakening of the musculoskeletal support mechanism by repetitive micro-trauma. Injuries can arise in muscle, ligament, vertebrae, and discs, either singly or in combination.

Factors Associated With Back Disorders
Back disorders result from exceeding the capability of the muscles, tendons, discs, or the cumulative effect of several contributors:

-Reaching while lifting.
-Poor posture--how one sits or stands.
-Stressful living and working activities--staying in one position for too long.
-Bad body mechanics--how one lifts, pushes, pulls, or carries objects.
-Poor physical condition-losing the strength and endurance to perform physical tasks without strain.
-Poor design of job or work station.
-Repetitive lifting of awkward items or equipment.
-Twisting while lifting.
-Bending while lifting.
-Maintaining bent postures.
-Heavy lifting.
-Fatigue.
-Poor footing such as slippery floors, or constrained posture.
-Lifting with forceful movement.

Prevention & Control
The best defense against any back disorder is to prevent the injury in the first place. Here is a list of preventative steps sunless operators may want to consider when offering sunless applications:

A. Material handling tasks should be designed to minimize the weight, range of motion, and frequency of the activity. Consider breaking down larger one-gallon product containers into smaller, more manageable bottles.

B. Work stations should be designed to minimize the distance between the person and the object being handled. Keep your products and your client within reach thus eliminating the opportunity for over-reach.

C. Counters and sunless-carts should be at about waist height to minimize awkward postures.

D. High-strength push-pull requirements are undesirable, but pushing is better than pulling. Material handling equipment should be easy to move, with handles that can be easily grasped in an upright posture. If you offer portable sunless services, be sure and store your products in storage tubs that are of proper size and weight.

E. Work-cart or workstation configurations can force people to bend over. Corrections should emphasize adjustments necessary for the operator to remain in a relaxed upright stance or fully supported, seated posture. Bending the upper body and spine to reach into a bin or container is highly undesirable. The bins should be elevated, tilted or equipped with collapsible sides to improve access.

F. Repetitive or sustained twisting, stretching, or leaning to one side is undesirable. Corrections could include repositioning bins and moving yourself closer tothe client and products.

G. Store heavy objects and supplies at waist level.

I hope this excerpt from our Sunless Certification Course helps!

[Bill]

Good stuff, Rick. Thanks.

[Neon Beach]

[oasistan]

Do about 10 sprays in a day and no matter if you follow all the above instructions, your still gonna in pain if you have the slightest back issues. I never realized how hard this was going to be on my back.

It's good to see that it's been addressed in the course though, Rick! Good stuff!

[Tonya]

Thanks for the info, that was a good read.