Occupational hazards

ACCORDING TO the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), about 40,000 people in the construction industry suffer an MSD every year. The Royal College of General Practitioners has estimated that by 2025, there will be 9.1 million people living with one or more serious long-term conditions in the UK and the World Health Organization reports that MSDs are a leading contributor to disability worldwide.

Whether its back and neck pain, tendinitis, hand-arm vibration syndrome or carpal tunnel syndrome, MSDs can cause years of agonising aches and pains. They have a huge impact on the lives of many people around the world, impairing their ability to work and their overall quality of life.

This doesn’t have to be the case. Employers have a legal duty to protect their workers, and this includes putting measures in place to prevent MSDs and occupational safety and health professionals have a key role to play. 

It is with this in mind that the HSE recently launched its ‘Work Right Construction’ campaign to tackle MSDs in this industry. The Executive is carrying out 1,000 inspections throughout October and November to check how workers are moving heavy and bulky materials as a target area for common activity that can lead to MSDs.

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) is delighted to support the HSE’s campaign. Working together is vital to raise awareness of MSDs, particularly how to eliminate or manage them where necessary in support of construction worker health.

There are simple steps that organisations can take to achieve this, steps that don’t cost the earth but are incredibly effective.

Simply assessing moving and handling tasks to identify the risks, and then either eliminating the hazard at source or implementing controls that reduce the risk, will have a lasting benefit on the lives of construction workers, organisations and communities. 

IOSH’s occupational health toolkit is full of free information on preventing MSDs. 

Other key things for businesses to consider are:

• Understanding the requirements and capacity of your workforce, adapting work to each person through the design of the task and making any adjustments that are required;
• Where necessary, altering the working methods, but training workers to correctly perform tasks that are specific for their work;
• Making sure all equipment is properly maintained and selected to either reduce or eliminate MSDs where possible; 
• Communicating and engaging with workers, providing them with awareness information, listening to their feedback and concerns, and acting on them;
• Looking for adaptable good practices from other construction organisations. 

And for workers themselves, there are also some key things to consider, such as:

• Ensuring, where possible, that you use mechanical handling equipment, in preference to manual handling, where you are competent to do so;
• Reporting safety concerns (including defective equipment, work pressures or constraints) and discussing any health concerns (such as pre-existing conditions, injuries or pregnancy);
• Staying hydrated and taking rest breaks.
• While the HSE campaign is focused solely on construction, the issue is much wider than this and spans all industries. It is crucial, therefore, that all businesses take note and ask themselves if they are doing all they can to manage MSD risks in their workplaces. 

Well-designed work, in which physical and psychosocial risks are properly managed, can both prevent the development of MSDs and support employees with non-work-related MSDs at work.

By following some of these steps, there are some huge advantages, for both businesses and workers. 

Together, we can start to reduce the toll of MSDs. It’s time to Work Right.

Lawrence Webb is president-elect at the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. For more information, visit www.iosh.com