TACKLING WORK'S STRAINS AND PAINS

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Journée de sensibilisation microtraumatismes répétés, 29 février 2008 CTC, Canada

Repetitive Strain Injury Awareness Day - February 29, 2008 CLC, Canada

International RSI Awareness Day ILO/CIS , Global

Resources

Hazards Workplace assessment tools, including bodymapping and risk mapping

Hazards Computer workstations checklists

TUC Back strain and RSI webpages

RSI Action website

NUJ RSI webpages

UNISON RSI leaflet, January 2008 [pdf]

CSP RSI prevention factsheet [pdf]

Links to UK RSI support groups

ETUC: On the offensive against MSDs
HESA musculoskeletal disorders webpage
HESA strain injuries toolbox
Other useful resources

Ergonomics Ideas Bank Washington State Dept. of Labor and Industries, USA

AFL-CIO: Ergonomics/Stop the Pain campaign Resources for the Stop the Pain campaign run by US national union federation AFL-CIO

ACTU: No body should put up with it Resources for the strain injuries campaign run by Australian national union federation ACTU

IOSH Occupational Health Toolkit: musculoskeletal disorders webpage

UAW ergonomics webpage

HSE: Better backs tools for safety reps
As part of its better backs campaign, HSE has published new tools for safety reps, including a checklist for workplace manual handling inspections. HSE says the “documents have been put together in partnership with the TUC to help safety representatives get involved with the campaign.”
Risks 275, 23 September 2006 • Manual handling inspections checklist [pdf] • HSE better backs campaign webpages and what could you do? page

Eurofound: Managing musculoskeletal disorders
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) remain the most common work-related diseases, according to this October 2007 comparative report published by Eurofound’s European Working Conditions Observatory (EWCO). The report found that MSDs were associated with strenuous working conditions and physical strain, such as tiring and painful working positions, repetitive movements, carrying heavy loads and poorly designed workstations. Work intensification and stress lead to increased occurrences of MSDs. Job rotation and team working are also associated with a higher incidence of MSDs. Lean production models require workers to perform repetitive tasks at a higher work pace, resulting in a higher prevalence of MSDs. Enhanced autonomy over working methods, work pace and choice of breaks is associated with a reduction of MSDs. The risk is lowered where there is training provided by employers and consultation about working conditions and about organisational factors.
Managing musculoskeletal disorders • Musculoskeletal disorders still the most widespread work-related diseases

European Agency Lighten the load campaign and Back to Work report

US NIOSH Ergonomics and musculoskeletal disorders webpages • NIOSH lifting equation

Cornell University ergonomics web

US RSI support groups

 Hazards strains news

Britain: Welder gets two diseases from vibration 
A welder has developed two serious occupational diseases in his hands as a result of using vibrating tools. The 56-year-old Unite member from Wolverhampton, whose name has not been released, was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS).
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 436
Hazards news, 12 December 2009

Britain: Cash firm pays out for back injury
A GMB member who was forced to continue lifting heavy objects after he damaged his back, leading to further injury, has received £13,500 in compensation. Alan Titley, 62, from Atherstone in Warwickshire, suffered the permanent injury as result of his work for G4S Cash Services UK in Coventry.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risk 435
Hazards news, 5 December 2009

USA: Jobs not gender cause work’s pain
A study of workers at 50 hotels in the United States has found that women are 50 per cent more likely to be injured than men, and that Hispanic women have an injury rate two-thirds higher than their white female counterparts. The study, which will be published in January 2010 in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, said the injury rate was higher for female hotel employees because they worked disproportionately as housekeepers, which is the hotel job most likely to lead to injury.
APHA abstract • New York Times • Risks 432
Hazards news,  14 November 2009

Britain: School assistant suffers slipped disc
A school assistant has received a “substantial” sum in compensation after she suffered a slipped disc while lifting heavy objects at work. GMB member Yvonne Macklin, 48, from Colchester in Essex, was helping a colleague to lift a heavy insulated box containing school lunches; she has been unable to work since the incident in March 2006, is in constant pain and now has a limp and must use crutches.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 432
Hazards news,  14 November 2009

Britain: Bin lift led to bad back
A waste lorry driver who needed surgery after he suffered two slipped discs caused by lifting heavy bins has received a “significant” out of court payout. Unite member Les Webb, 49, was off work for seven and a half months following the 2006 incident while working for Viridor Waste Management in Plympton.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 431
Hazards news, 7 November 2009

USA: Dangerous speed up in meatpacking
Four years after a government report found slaughterhouse workers in the US faced more than double the injury rate of manufacturing as a whole, a new survey suggests conditions have deteriorated still further. Almost threequarters (73 per cent) of the Nebraska meatpacking workers surveyed stated that the speed of the line had increased in the past year and more than six out of 10 (62 per cent) said they had been injured in the past year.
Working In These Times • ‘The Speed Kills You’: The voice of Nebraska’s meatpacking workers’, Nebraska Appleseed, October 2009 [pdf] • Risks 428
Hazards news, 17 October 2009

Europe: Action needed on workplace strains
Muscle and joint pain accounts for almost half of all sick leave, both in the UK and across Europe, a study has found. Half of all of all sickness absence (49 per cent) is caused by musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), concluded the Fit for Work Europe report by The Work Foundation, a London-based think tank.
Fit for Work Europe website, related blog entry and full report • BBC News Online • Risks 426
Hazards news, 4 October 2009

Britain: TUC calls for major strains move
The Work Foundation’s strain injuries report shows the urgent need for better occupational health services, rehabilitation and a specific strain injuries prevention law, the TUC has said. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “We urgently need new and clear regulations, backed up by strong enforcement against those employers that are causing many of these injuries.”
TUC news release • European trade union MSD campaign • Risks 426
Hazards news, 4 October 2009

Britain: Strain injury takes away a future
A concrete technician who developed a debilitating workplace strain injury fears he may never find work again after he was made redundant. GMB member Paul Flintoff, 46, from Selston in Nottingham was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), a painful lower arm disorder which can be caused by prolonged use of hand-held vibrating tools.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 401
Hazards news, 11 April 2009

Britain: Baggage handlers on the lifting case
Unite members from airports all over the UK are to lobby their MPs and will invite them to take part in a ‘baggage challenge’. The parliamentarians will be given the opportunity to try shifting the heavy bags baggage handlers deal with routinely – and will be asked to back the union’s campaign to reduce the weight of checked-in baggage from 32 to 23 kilograms per item.
Unite news release and Lighten up campaign • Risks 397
Hazards news, 14 March 2009

Britain: ‘No progress’ on RSI at work
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) is calling on the government to encourage employers to do more to prevent repetitive strain injury (RSI). The physios’ union says latest figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show there has been little progress in tackling RSI in the last six years.
CSP news release and RSI prevention factsheet [pdf] • The Guardian • BBC News Online • Personnel Today
International RSI Awareness Day, 28 February. TUC RSI webpages and resources • Hazards International RSI Day resources • CAW International RSI Day briefing • ILO/CIS RSI Day webpage • Risks 395
Hazards news, 28 February 2009

Global: International RSI Day, 28 February 2009
This 28 February marks the 10th anniversary of International Repetitive Strain Injury Awareness Day. The event – which falls on the last day of February each year – is used by occupational disease advocacy organisations, campaigns and trade unions to highlight strain injuries risks and prevention at work and in the community. 
CAW International RSI Day briefing • Hazards International RSI Day resources • TUC RSI webpages and resources • ILO/CIS RSI Day webpage • Risks 394
Hazards news, 21 February 2009

Britain: Small worker suffers serious strain injury
A petite shopworker has successfully sued her employer after developing a strain injury caused by reaching for the till and the shop's chip and pin device. Usdaw member Jill Hyndman, 51, who is only four feet nine inches tall, claimed her employer, the Co-op in Cinderford, did not take her small stature into account when they redesigned their till areas a few years ago.
The Sun • The Citizen • The Telegraph • Personnel Today • Usdaw healthy checkouts guide • Risks 387
Hazards news, 20 December 2008

Britain: Work’s stresses and strains are top concerns
Stress or overwork, injuries and illnesses caused by the poor use of display screen equipment and repetitive strain injuries (RSI) top the list of workers' safety concerns, according to the TUC's biennial survey of safety reps.
TUC news release • Wales TUC news release • Northern TUC news release •TUC biennial survey of safety reps 2008 • Risks 380
Hazards news, 1 November 2008

Britain: Electrician gets £250,000 for back injuries
A Unite member working as a contract electrician has been awarded £250,000 for the back injuries he sustained when he fell at a Tarmac site in 2003. Union law firm Rowley Ashworth rejected the insurer’s offer of contributory negligence to agree liability on a 75:25 split in favour of the member and issued court proceedings; instead, a final settlement of £250,000 was achieved three weeks before the scheduled trial.
Risks 370
Hazards news, 23 August 2008

Britain: Nursery nurse gets back payout
A nursery nurse from Newcastle has secured £75,000 damages following a serious back injury at work. Gillian Scott, 42, a member of UNISON, was working at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary when the contents of a box slipped as she was placing it in a cupboard, causing her to fall against the door which sprung back on her.
Risks 370
Hazards news, 23 August 2008

Britain: Strains follow workers out of the office
More than two thirds of workers now suffer from repetitive strain injury, costing £300 million in lost working hours, a new study has found. The research from Microsoft revealed cases soared by more than 30 per cent last year because more staff than ever work both inside and outside the office.
Microsoft webpage and report, Ergonomics and repetitive strain injury [pdf] • Daily Mail • Risks 360
Hazards news, 14 June 2008

Australia: Luxury hotels serve up agony for workers
Luxury hotel workers in Australia have launched a national campaign for better pay and conditions after an investigation revealed record injury rates and the highest staff turnover of any industry. Research by hotel workers’ union LHMU revealed “devastating staff turnover levels, record injury rates, dangerous workloads, bullying by management and Australia’s biggest number of low paid workers.”
LHMU news release, luxury jobs factsheet [pdf] and better hotel jobs campaign website • Risks 347
Hazards news, 15 March 2008

India: Computer-based workers feel the pain
Call centre and other computer-based workers in India are paying a high price for the job, with significant numbers suffering musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), according to a new report. Dr Deepak Sharan, the medical director of the RECOUP Neuromusculoskeletal Rehabilitation Centre in Bangalore, found that 75 per cent of the 30,000 individuals in his ongoing study in India’s ‘Silicon Valley’ are afflicted with musculoskeletal symptoms related to their work.
Risks 345
Hazards news, 1 March 2008

Britain: Call to protect workers from RSI
More needs to be done to protect workers from repetitive strain injury (RSI), physios’ union CSP has warned. It says RSI rates have been rising in recent years and the problem now costs the UK economy £300m a year in lost working time, sick pay and administration.
TUC RSI webpages • Updated UNISON RSI guide [pdf] • Risks 345
Hazards news, 1 March 2008

USA: Newspaper exposes poultry industry horrors
A newspaper that spent 22 months investigating conditions at a major North Carolina poultry supplier has uncovered a horrific pattern of worker exploitation and injuries. An accompanying Charlotte Observer editorial adds the immigrant worker “are being exploited, abused, then thrown away when they are injured or when they speak up.”
Charlotte Observer news series and videos • Risks 343
Hazards news, 16 February 2008

Britain: Tube driver gets RSI compo go-ahead
A Tube driver has been granted permission to sue London Underground (LUL) after developing a debilitating wrist injury. RMT member Latona Allison developed the repetitive strain injury tenosynovitis in her right wrist and now cannot work as a driver.
Ms Latona Allison (Appellant) and London Underground Ltd, [2008] EWCA Civ 71, Case No: B3/2007/0536, 13 February 2008 • Risks 343
Hazards news, 16 February 2008

Global: International RSI Day, 29 February 2008
Union reps should start gearing up for International RSI Day, the last day of February every year. In 2008 - a leap year - that means Friday 29 February. Whether you do a workplace risk assessment, a bodymapping session or just a bit of general awareness raising, make sure you do something.
'Repeat after me' poster • Hazards magazine strains webpage • Risks 343
Hazards news, 16 February 2008

Britain: Training won’t prevent back pain
If employers do not lift a finger to reduce manual handling at work and just rely on training in “safe” lifting they’ll not stop workplace back injuries, researchers have concluded. Commenting on study findings published on the British Medical Journal (BMJ) website, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “It shows that employers shouldn't be relying on their employees lifting heavy weights ‘correctly’ to prevent back injury, but instead should be reducing the weight of things that need to be lifted manually,” adding: “The Health and Safety Executive will now have to review its advice on manual handling as a matter of urgency.”
Kari-Pekka Martimo and others. Effect of training and lifting equipment for preventing back pain in lifting and handling: systematic review, BMJ Online First, 31 January 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.39463.418380.BE • Risks 342
Hazards news, 9 February 2008

Britain: Food firm ignored manual handling risks
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is reminding companies of their legal duties on manual handling after an employee was injured when a 50kg sack of basmati rice fell on his neck. East End Foods plc pleaded guilty to safety offences and was fined £25,000 with £28,000 costs.
Risks 341
Hazards news, 2 February 2008

Britain: Strain injury leads to forced retirement
A factory worker from Port Talbot who was medically retired after suffering a repetitive strain injury (RSI) has received almost £17,000 in compensation. Unite member Barbara Newall’s job was to bag the accessories that accompanied a DVD player; this included a remote control, a battery pack, an RF cable and, in some cases, an additional RF lead - she would pack approximately 4,500 bags per day.
Thompsons Solicitors new release
RSI Action Day, Friday 29 February: Unions can order a special 'Repeat after me' RSI day poster from the Hazards Campaign • 'Repeat after me' poster • Email the Hazards Campaign for poster order details • Risks 341
Hazards news, 2 February 2008

Britain: Cut weight limit, say bag handlers
Baggage handlers nationwide are campaigning for the maximum luggage weight limit allocated to each airline passenger to be cut. Unite, the workers' union, says baggage handlers want the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to reduce the maximum weight limit from 32kg to 23kg a bag.
Manchester Evening News • Risks 338
Hazards news,12 January 2008

USA: Hilton caused housekeeper strains
California’s workplace safety regulator has charged that the duties performed by housekeepers at a hotel - scrubbing, bed making, vacuuming - violate the state's repetitive strain injury rules. A citation issued to Hilton Los Angeles Airport hotel (LAX Hilton) “confirmed what workers have been telling their physicians and management at the LAX Hilton, that this work and the workload are causing them pain and injury,” said Pamela Vossenas, senior health and safety representative for the hotel division of Unite Here.
LA Union news release • LA Times
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Repeat after me – strain injuries hurt
Strain injuries are commonly reported as the top cause of work-related injury, disability and lost time. They are easily prevented - and there has never been a better time to take action.
Hazards strains resources • ‘Repeat after me’ poster • Email the Hazards Campaign for poster order details
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Britain: Minister backs union strains campaign
Health and safety minister Lord McKenzie has added his weight to a union bad backs prevention initiative. The minister joined trade union safety representatives and experts from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on a London unionlearn course, to mark the start of European Health and Safety Week.
HSE news release
Hazards news, 27 October 2007

Europe: ETUC goes on the strains offensive
Unions in Europe are being urged to join “a massive offensive” against workplace strain injuries. John Monks, ETUC general secretary, said: “We want to launch a mass trade union offensive focused on work organisation to stem these rapidly-spreading work-related illnesses.”
ETUC news release [pdf] • Conference papers
Hazards news, 20 October 2007

Europe: Getting to grips with strain injuries
Three simple letters - MSD – identify the leading cause of occupational illness in Europe, according the European trade union safety thinktank, REHS. Its new guide to musculoskeletal disorders – MSDs – provides a “summary of the current scientific knowledge of this complex group of pathologies, examines the connection between MSD and changes in the organisation of work and proposes ideas for a necessary trade union mobilisation against this exploding health problem.”
Musculoskeletal disorders. An ill-understood pandemic Further details and online order form
Hazards news, 6 October 2007

Britain: Call for more physios to help workers
Workplace strain injury victims are being let down by a shortage of physiotherapists – yet most physio graduates are out of work. Physio’s union CSP says just 24 per cent of physio graduates who could be treating patients have a job.
CSP news release
Hazards news, 22 September 2007

USA: Extra screen breaks are healthy and productive
More frequent breaks from screen-based work reduce fatigue and increase productivity, US government researchers have found. A team from the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) concluded: “These results provide further converging evidence that supplementary breaks reliably minimise discomfort and eyestrain without impairing productivity.”
Traci Galinsky and others. Supplementary breaks and stretching exercises for data entry operators: A follow-up field study, American Journal of Industrial Medicine, volume 50, issue 7, pages 519–527, 2007 [abstract]
Hazards news, 18 August 2007

Britain: Upped work rate caused clerk's strain injury
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has paid out almost £500,000 after an RAF computer clerk developed a chronic repetitive strain injury caused by an increased work rate. A total of £484,000 in compensation and legal costs was awarded following the onset of the condition in the hand of the unnamed employee.
Birmingham Post
Hazards news, 4 August 2007

Britain: CWU action on mail strains
Postal union CWU has launched a new guide to tackle the high rates of workplace strains suffered by mail delivery staff. It says musculoskeletal injuries in Royal Mail are running at over 10 times the rate for workplaces overall.
CWU news release • CWU safe working on delivery guide [pdf]
Hazards news, 28 July 2007

Britain: Nestlé pays out for tennis elbow cases
Nestlé UK Ltd has paid compensation to four workers at the coffee making giant's site at Burton on Trent after each of them developed tennis elbow – mirroring the experiences of workers at another of the company’s plants in Brazil. Steven Davis, received £11,000, a colleague £4,000 and two other workers undisclosed sums after developing the occupational strain injury.
IUF news release
Hazards news, 28 July 2007

Britain New IOSH occupational health toolkit
IOSH, the organisation for safety professionals – safety officers to you and me – has produced a new, free, online occupational health toolkit. IOSH says this new resource “brings together information, guidance, factsheets, case studies, training materials, presentations and more to help you tackle occupational health problems.”
Risks 300, 31 March 2007 • IOSH occupational health toolkit
IOSH Occupational Health Toolkit: musculoskeletal disorders webpage

Britain: Vibrating injury victim secures compensation
A production worker has secured £7,000 compensation after developing debilitating hand and arm conditions caused by exposure to vibrating tools. The union GMB has secured the payout from two former employers of John Coggon, 52, who was diagnosed with vibration white finger (VWF) and carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in September 2005 following his employment with National Power from 1977 to 1992 and then Newells from 1992 to 2002.
Risks 298, 17 March 2007 • Hazards work and health and compensation webpages

Britain: Better backs tools for safety reps
As part of its better backs campaign, HSE has published two new tools for safety reps, a checklist for workplace manual handling inspections and a practical guide to managing sickness absence and return to work. HSE says the “documents have been put together in partnership with the TUC to help safety representatives get involved with the campaign.”
Risks 275, 23 September 2006 • Hazards work and health webpages

Britain: Over stretched NHS can’t reach strain victims
The health service is too stretched to deal with the one million plus workers with a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) caused or made worse by work, physios’ union CSP has warned.
Risks 275, 23 September 2006

Britain: Editor wins £37,500 RSI damages
A Guardian newspaper night editor who says she was refused access to the company physiotherapist after developing crippling elbow pain has been paid £37,500 in damages for repetitive strain injury (RSI). Andrea Osbourne, who had been a casual at the paper for two and a half years, worked almost exclusively using a mouse, at speed, for an average nine hours a night, and up to 45 hours a week, without a break.
Risks 258, 27 May 2006

Sweden: Heavy work makes you sick
Workers performing jobs that require heavy work are far more likely to take long-term sick leave, a Swedish study has found.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

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