RIK GOODALL has a skeleton in his cupboard... or rather a skeletal model of the human spine.

For he is touring Southern Water with it, helping staff avoid the greatest cause of time off work - back pain.

A former professional cyclist Rik, now based at the company's Portswood Training Centre at Southampton, suffered years of back trouble when he gave up the sport.

Rik said: "Stooping, twisting, over stretching and, of course lifting, can all cause us back trouble. In my case, the back pain was caused by hours of over stretching my spine when crouched over my bike.

"Yet, by following simple advice we can help avoid back trouble. I try to give staff a basic understanding of the anatomy of their back and spine, how they work and the stresses and strains we risk every day.

"Then I advise about correct techniques for lifting things as well as pushing and pulling objects.''

It is not just Southern Water's manual workers who can benefit from Rik's expertise, office staff are also being helped as part of the training programme.

Rik said: "Back pain and back injuries are the most common causes of days off work in industry and we want to do all we can to ensure we limit this as much as possible.''