- Hi, my name's Maree Madden and I'm here to talk about occupational health and safety for sign language interpreters. 

- The first thing I wanna say in introducing the topic is that we do really need to be mindful all the time that sign language interpreting isn't only cognitively demanding, and we all know that it is, but it's also very physically demanding. And those physical demands come from the really rapid movements that we make when we're using sign language. So, movements of the hands, the wrist, the forearms, your shoulders, but, what goes along with that is that a really significant load is placed on the neck, and the shoulders, and the back, which creates stress and tension. One of the most important things you can do as an interpreter, is to be aware of warning signs and to look out for them, and to act on them when, or if, they appear. 

- I'm just gonna refer to my notes now. And the first thing you need to look at in stage one of the development of an overuse injury, is that you'll feel a sense of heaviness, or pain, or fatigue, or ache at the end of a day of work. But, usually, that will resolve overnight, so, you'll wake up the next day and you feel fine. You might not necessarily have any impact on your work performance, so, you can get up the next day and go off to work, and it will be okay. You won't necessarily see any signs, apart from feeling a bit tired at the end of the day. 

- But, you might experience a bit of muscle tenderness, a bit of tendon tenderness, and a bit of fatigue or discomfort. And those kinds of symptoms can persist for weeks or months, but, if you don't do anything about it at that stage, you're gonna progress to a greater level of injury. And what you might see at that stage two level, is that that experience of fatigue starts earlier in your workday and it persists for a bit longer. And sometimes, it doesn't actually resolve overnight so you wake up the next day feeling tired and feeling sore still. 

- You might also find that at this stage that your sleep is interrupted or disturbed because of the symptoms that you're feeling. You might, at this particular stage, experience a bit of tingling, or a bit of swelling, so some signs might become evident. And you might also have persistent pain or weakness in the muscles that are affected. And, again, this can persist for several months if you don't do anything about it. If you don't, it can progress to level three, or stage three.

- What you will experience at that stage is that all of your muscle groups will feel quite fatigued and you won't be able to do any kind of work, and you'll find that the pain is present even with non-repetitive movement. You will often have a disturbance of sleep and not only your work as an interpreter will be affected, but, other parts of your life will be affected. So, things like driving a car, being able to cut up food, being able to dress yourself and so forth. 

- Those sorts of things are gonna be affected by this injury. You might also, at this stage, encounter numbness or a change in colour or temperature, so being too hot or too cold, And the condition, if you don't do anything about it, can last for sometime and can mean that you can stop being interpreter because of the injury. 

- So, my point is that it's really crucial to take action at stage one. If you start to feel those sensations of pain or discomfort at the end of the day, even if you feel better the next day, it's important to do something about it. And that means reporting to your employer and going to seek some medical assistance.

- I want to give you a few tips on how you can prevent injury actually occurring. First thing is, it's really important to listen to your body. If you feeling aches and pains, don't push through it. Your body is giving you pain signal for a reason.

- It means that you need to stop what you're doing and do something about it. You always need to warm up and cool down before you work as an interpreter, and I'll be providing a link to some exercises that you can do as a short, little five minute routine before and after work.

- If you're sitting for a long time, your blood will pool, and it's really important that when you get up and move, that you stretch your muscles and get your blood flowing again. Get the oxygen flowing through your body. Get up and stretch a bit, and make sure that you cool down. And make sure, again, that you're warmed up before you start work again.

- If you can, incorporate some strength and flexibility exercises into a daily routine and build up some upper body strength so that your muscles aren't injured. It's really important to seek the advice of a medical professional to get some treatment if you're having any of these sorts of symptoms.

- What I've found really useful, too, is to have a colleague watch you while you're interpreting, if possible, or film yourself interpreting, so that you can see if you have any kind of awkward posture. When you're working as an interpreter, if you're holding your hands or your arms or holding your body in a really uncomfortable or awkward, or inappropriate way, that can contribute to injury.

- If you're going to go to a job that you know is stressful for you, try to practice some relaxation exercises beforehand, some deep breathing, to make sure that you go into the work without that sense of stress. And if you find yourself, while you're at work, feeling tense or stressed, practice some deep breathing movements.

- The final thing I'll suggest, is that it's really important not to switch dominant hands. So, if you're left-handed person, and you get an injury in your left hand, don't try to make your right hand do more work, 'cause it's not as strong and it'll be injured more quickly.

- These are the sorts of things that you can do for yourself, but it's really important also to remember, that workplace health and safety is the responsibility of the employer, as well as the worker.

-So, whoever that is you're working for, has a responsibility in workplace health and safety law to make sure that your working environment is a safe one.