Correct pick-up, avoid hernia
Industrial-health poster: three stylised workers in caps lift a black box in sequence, crouching, rising and standing, under the headline 'correct pick-up, avoid hernia'. A small booklet inset, 'below the belt', says 'for more information read'. It sets out a safe-lifting method; the persuasive element is the sequence shown, with the benefit stated by the headline.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Federal Security Agency, U.S. Public Health Service; artist Nydorf
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Health, Labor
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Federal Security Agency, U.S. Public Health Service; artist Nydorf. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-608 (NAID 514086).
Text on the object
correct pick-up avoid hernia [inset booklet cover:] below the belt * for more information read— [imprint:] Federal Security Agency WH29—U. S. PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ☆ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1944—O—587505 [signature:] Nydorf
