Staffordshire Police Federation has backed calls from the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) for forces to do more to alleviate back pain from body armour.
As part of the National Body Armour Working Group, the Police Federation of England and Wales works closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and other policing organisations such as the Home Office and force health and safety leads. However, provision can vary across forces.
Staffordshire Police Federation chair Phil Jones said: “If you look at the timeline from when body armour was made mandatory in the late 90s, we can see that some officers today have been wearing body armour almost every day for many, many years.
“This can have a huge impact on your body. More and more, we see officers having problems with back and shoulder pain. We can prevent this with better provision – fitting armour every 12 months, storing it properly, and carrying out careful checks following damage, which can change the way it fits.”
National Board member Steve Hartshorn said: “We have been working with experts from Flint House, the Police Treatment Centres (Harrogate and Auchterarder) and the North-West Police Benevolent Fund to share ways to help ease the strain.
“We are also working with forces to remind them of their responsibility to look after officers’ welfare and encourage good practice around body armour care, storage and checks following damage.
“As a former firearms officer, I personally know the importance of properly storing body armour correctly. Colleagues need the correct storage for their armour, so they can hang this correctly and be ready to be used for the next shift.”
These comments followed PFEW’s successful Back to Basics initiative, which highlighted ways members could minimise the impact of wearing body armour on their back and shoulders.
Federation wellbeing lead Belinda Goodwin said: “We need to get the word out to colleagues that, although body armour is mandatory, when it’s safe to do they should take it off. Far too many of our colleagues keep it on when they enter a station to do a crime report, then three hours later realise they still have it on.
“Some members also carry unnecessary items on the cover of their body armour which adds to the weight on their back, necks and shoulders. We are trying to encourage these individuals to remove items they don’t need.”
To read more about proper back care, visit backcare.org.uk.
