March 11, 2015 - 11:33am
common injuries for bakers
Besides the normal sore back and achy muscles, what else are common injuries for a baker? I've recently (6 months ago) started working with pizza dough making 400# into 9oz balls. I've encountered lots of pain along the way but mostly my right wrist from rolling the doughballs. It feels sore and aches, then off and on it goes numb. Within the past week I developed a firm knot on the inside of my wrist where it meets the thumb. What is it and is it serious? What other problems or injuries are common amongst bakers?
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Here's a start: http://web.eecs.umich.edu/~cscott/rsi.html
burning my arms and hands on something very hot for some reason :-)
I managed to singe a lot of the hairs on my arm at the weekend - had fired up the Kamado BBQ and was cooking 2 nice big T-bones on it. Lifted the lid just as it decided to flare up as some fat hit the coals...
Who needs hairy arms anyway!
-Gordon
A must with rolling carts, heavy objects and people stepping backwards. There are some nice looking practical steel toed shoes out there.
Keep fingers out of machines.
and other such sayings...
If you're getting a sore back, then alter the way you stand to work the dough. Try to stand straight rather than hunch over the workbench. Also try using your left hand too (I'm left handed and do make the effort to use my right hand) Once you get the hang of using your left hand, then you can roll 2 dough balls at once (assuming this is pre-shaping them into rounds before pressing flat) That will also halve the time you take.
Also, in addition to the good RSI link above, look up Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpal_tunnel_syndrome
400 lbs of dough in 9oz balls is 622 balls of dough. That's a lot. That's a seriously busy pizza place. If you did 2 at once and could do them in under 30 seconds, that's 2.5 hours solid work. Not something I'd be happy with - if I were running that pizza place, I'd be looking to get a machine in at that point...
-Gordon
Carpel Tunnel sp??? I have it too and it came after starting as a baker, before I improved posture and use of limbs. Got it from piping thick dough in masses for spritz cookies among other things. They sell braces for this that if you wear to sleep helps a bit but it's more about being ergonomic and practicing good posture. Easier said than done sometimes
Josh
Machines are made for this, if you have enough volume to justify a machine to do the job then automation always has fast payback, especially if it prevents injury. We make a lot of turtle like confections, 20 years ago I dropped the caramel on the pecans using a funnel. My wrist would feel like my hand would fall off after a batch or two. Within a few years I bought a depositor that is basically a large funnel, holds 40 lb of caramel and has 8 openings that has a slider underneath operated with compressed air. You fill a standard sheet pan with pecans and slide it under the depositor, step on the pedal and the slider opens and drops caramel on the bed of nuts, Works like a charm. When I bought it a colleague told me it was a waste of money because the clean up time would eat up all the time saved. This isn't quite true but it does take longer to clean the machine than a funnel and my wrist thanks me each time I use the machine.
Gerhard
I wish they would let us work smarter not harder and provide us (all 2 of us) with equipment that would take some stress off my joints and muscles but unfortunately I'm just an employee. ...what about this knot, lump, bump thing on my wrist? anyone ever heard of this??
I would find an experienced and well trained massage therapist and have them look at your hand and wrist.
Jeff
Did you read the pages on RSI and Carpal Tunnel? Please do. Also see a doctor.
A simple lump on the wrist could be nothing more than a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganglion_cyst too - they're usually not painful though. (I've had one - self medicated on it)
Your employers are probably also abusing you. Start looking for a new job.
-Gordon
get proper equipment and there employees get injured unnecessarily as a result, quickly change their tune when they get sued and the government gets involved in their draconian methods. Dough shapers are way cheaper than lawyers - and more friendly too:-)
yeah I read that website and it does encourage me to find another job but I've been with the company 5 yrs. I have a deep tissue massage scheduled for next week, you really think a massage therapist would know about these things? I thought it was a ganglion cysts until I found out the hard way that no matter how hard or how many times I "bible bashed" it, it wont go away.
...you really think a massage therapist would know about these things?
A well trained massage therapist will know this and much more.
Jeff
and it is a lot of dough for a busy pizza place. We usually have 5 or 6 of us rolling the dough but with the intense labor & the hours (2am - whenever you are done) we go through lots of new people. It's a well respected place. The owners go to local farmer's market every few days and supplies us with amazing produce. Everything is made in-house and we make the dough with a starter the owner made in Germany 25 years ago.
if you had some positive exact suggestions for new equipment, the company boss might listen.
is the type that has a rotating cone surrounded by a stationary track, you throw the pieces at the bottom of the track and the rotating cone works the dough up to the top of the track where a perfectly rounded piece of dough leaves the machine. These machines can be found used at bakery equipment stores, I have seen used ones for $1,500 to $2,000. They also make these with automatic scaling machines attached but they will also cost much more.
Gerhard
I think you would benefit from a dough "rounder" or baller. Something like the A&M Manufacturing R 900, Scale O Matic S 300, Univex (various models), Somerset SDR 400.
Here is a R900 in action. The video even speaks to carpal tunnel issues.
Dough Rounder Round-O-Matic R900T
Years of baking gave me aches and pains commensurate with the job. Laying down on a cold hard floor, or lucking upon a hot tub always helped my back which is what hurt the most. I think good shoes, stretching through the day and some light strength training can keep you ahead of the curve. Now that I've been back in an office job for the last couple of years, I've noticed a lot of the same aches and pain but my back is worse, carpal tunnel is much worse and I'm in worse shape. I have to work harder outside of work to keep my health up.
Bakeries can be very loud, hearing loss is an occupational hazard. Baker's Asthma from breathing flour can shorten your life. Ear plugs and dust masks are cheap and effective.