Musculoskeletal Disorders: Managing the Risk of Manual Handling

Matt Birtles, Principal Ergonomist at the Health and Safety Executive

I've been working in the field of musculoskeletal disorders now for over 20 years. The working world has changed over those years, especially in the last few and in this new normal, organisations must remain mindful of MSD risks and take ongoing action to monitor and manage them. This strong focus on worker health and safety, in turn, benefits organisational performance.

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs or MSKs) are not a new issue and there are three key reasons why we need to proactively fight to protect workers.

1.??????The first is the moral argument and of course it goes without explanation that none of us would want to knowingly injure any of our colleagues.

2.??????The second is the legal argument. One side of this is compliance with regulations the other side is litigation: managing claims when they come in post incident or post injury. One of the key areas or key failings insurers comment on is an organisations’ failure to risk assess or failure to communicate those risk assessments.

3.??????Finally, the financial argument. Organisations need to make sure that with any risk management system, certainly with musculoskeletal disorders, that they are getting a decent return on investment. We know that risk assessments, resulting in risk management, are effective and they're much more effective than say, employing manual handling trainers.

Musculoskeletal disorder risk can be found in all occupations and can result in huge costs. MSDs accounted for a third of all working days lost in the UK in 2018/2019 stats. On average, people take 14 days off work following significant injury. Indicative costs, borne mainly by the employer, for each significant health issue case costs around ￡9,000. It actually costs more than that in societal costs if you also include things like medical help, prescriptions and loss of earnings costs. Your own organisational costs per incident are well worth estimating so that you can estimate the overhead cost of the interventions and the savings gained from reducing incidence. You don't have to reduce too many incidents on each process before you've just saved the organisation a few thousand pounds.

Identify>Avoid>Assess>Reduce>Manage

So how do we manage MSDs? Well, I'm sure you've seen the above before. It is a very simple process. First, we identify the higher risk jobs that are more likely to contribute to an injury. The best way of doing that is through engagement with your workforce on walkabouts. Get yourself seen on the operational lines where the work is being done. Have a chat with colleagues and ask them what they find strenuous? What's their worst part of the job? It’s a good way of identifying high-risk activities and also gaining the engagement of the workers doing those jobs. Once you've identified the higher risk activities, question whether it’s possible to avoid them. Often mechanisation or automation can help with this but if these types of solutions are out of reach and you can't avoid those high-risk jobs then assess the risk. This is the step where we understand the levels of risk and what kind of emphasis, we need to put in to control. We assess to help us understand so that we can prioritise where we need to either reduce or eliminate the risk (can we design out the risk?). The residual risk that can’t be eliminated needs to be managed through measures such as training. Trainers can come in and mop-up residual risk by teaching our operators and our colleagues how to do those higher-risk activities more safely and raise awareness of safer operating procedures or any mitigation they can do in terms of their own behaviours. We can also use leading indicators; things like health surveys, or just frequent chats with colleagues who are exposed to risk.

So, I set you a challenge. I hope that this article has sparked some good ideas or helped even to re-iterate what you already know. My challenge to you is to look at your risk management process with fresh eyes. Look at it as an outsider would. Where are the risks in your organisation? Can they be tackled in another way? If it’s been a while since you engaged with your workforce, do it again. Ask them questions and be prepared to listen and take action.

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Further information from HSE

Matt is chairing a free webinar this June: Musculoskeletal Disorders: Managing the Risk of Manual Handling and Display Screen Equipment for Workers on Site or Working From Home

To help to inform employers, we are hosting this free webinar on how to effectively manage the risk of MSDs in your workplace and protect your home workers. This hour-long event will feature experts from HSE including HM Health and Safety Inspectors and our Principal Ergonomist to discuss current guidance and principles and give some practical examples of where the right, proportionate approach has worked well. We’ll be taking questions during the webinar and NEBOSH and TSO will join us to highlight official resources, products and services that can help you to identify and reduce risk of injury. For more information and to register visit the HSE event page

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More guidance on MSD regulations

The MSD section of the HSE website has links to more guidance, resources, tools and publications that can help in your MSD Risk Management.

Publications and products from HSE that can help to improve your risk management process

The HSE Books website offers information about publications and the New Musculoskeletal (MSD) Online Assessment Tool which combines the popular MSD assessment guides MAC, ART and RAPP and transformed them into an all-in-one digital solution. Employers and safety representatives can use the MSD tool to easily assess the risks posed by physical, strenuous activities. The assessor can then understand, interpret, categorise, and communicate the level of risk.

Training from the experts, informed by the regulator

Matt Birtles?has?helped to write,?and?regularly?delivers?HSE training courses,?which?are developed to include practical guidance around regulations and delivered by experts in order to help organisations comply with law, enhance performance and keep workforces healthy and safe.

·????????Manual Handling for Assessors

·????????Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) Assessment

·????????Display Screen Equipment (DSE) Risk Management

·????????NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Manual Handling Risk Assessment