NHS, 50% of which are accredited to occupational hazards, in 10 years’ time the total figure will exceed over a million people in the UK alone, many of whom will have damaged knees through inadequate protection whilst kneeling.
“In addition to the unnecessary pain, the self-employed risk losing their income through injury and the prospect of litigation will be a real threat to employers for not providing the best possible safety measures for their employees.”
It is easy for many technicians within the flooring industry, or in any occupation that requires spending any length of time kneeling, to underestimate the amount of long-term damage they could be doing to their knees. This could ultimately adversely affect their mobility and even future finances through being unable to work.
Our knees are complex. Often thought of as a simple hinge in our legs, knees in fact support the majority of our body weight. For workers who spend a great deal of time on floor level surfaces, crawling in confined areas, the knees may even see more use than the feet at times. As a result, workplace injuries to knees are not uncommon.
It is said that one knee injury is attributed to about 15 days absence from work. The knee joints are the largest in our body, each made up of the three main leg bones (femur, tibia, and fibula) and the knee cap (patella). If the tendons and ligaments that hold the knee components together become weak or damaged, the bones can become misaligned, resulting in pain or injury.
There are, however, a lot of practical things you can do to protect yourself or advise other workers to do. For example, try to avoid twisting the knee joint whilst bent as this increases the risk of injury. Kneeling or squatting for extended periods should also be avoided where possible as it places a lot of pressure on knee joints.
It is important to relieve pressure in the knees by moving the joint through its full range of motion by bending, stretching, and flexing the knee and leg at regular intervals. This activity helps the knee's shock-absorbing tissues to better absorb synovial fluid, thus improving lubrication of the joint and reducing the risk of injury.
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Another thing to be considered is choice of clothing, as wearing dirty clothes can result in skin infections for people who spend a lot of time on their knees. Constantly moving around on knees without the correct protection can cause friction which, in turn, can lead to skin abrasion from internal shear forces within the knee surface and therefore absorb dirt. These forces are extremely destructive and damaging to tissue and can lead to impaired blood-flow, pain, and pressure sores.
If it is practical to do so, move and change postures frequently as static
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postures decrease blood and nutrient flow to the tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and bursa.
The key precaution to preventing knee and, often as a result, skeletal injury is choosing the correct type of kneepad. A great deal of research has been made into the design and construction of this specialist item of PPE.
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