So far in our MSD Prevention 101 series, we have covered what Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) are and what causes them.
Here is a quick review:
- MSDs are injuries and disorders to the musculoskeletal system.
- The root cause of these injuries and disorders is exposure to risk factors (both workplace risk factors and individual risk factors).
The reason we have covered these important points so thoroughly is to put in place a solid foundation on which you can build your MSD prevention strategy.
Now that we know what MSDs are and what causes them, it’s time to get proactive. It’s time to think prevention and put together a framework for MSD prevention.
The first step on the path to prevention is to recognize MSD risk factors as the root cause of the MSD problem. From there, we need to create a process to identify and remove these risk factors to prevent MSDs.
Your process needs to identify and remove both ergonomic risk factors and individual risk factors by putting controls in place.
Ergonomic (Workplace) Controls
Remember the ergonomic (workplace) risk factors from earlier?
- High task repetition. Many work tasks and cycles are repetitive in nature, and are frequently controlled by hourly or daily production targets and work processes.
- Forceful exertions. Many work tasks require high force loads on the human body.
- Repetitive or sustained awkward postures. Awkward postures place excessive force on joints and overload the muscles and tendons around the effected joint.
When these risk factors are present, it means that the work you are asking the worker to do is outside their body’s capabilities and limitations. It is putting their musculoskeletal system at risk to fatigue faster than it can recover. The job you are asking them to do is putting too much stress on their body.
That’s where the science of ergonomics comes in.
The word ergonomics comes from the Greek word “ergon” which means work and “nomos” which means laws. It’s essentially the science of work. Good ergonomic design removes incompatibilities between the work and the worker and creates the optimal work environment. This allows you to efficiently create the best product possible.
Think about the benefits of designing the workplace to match the capabilities and limitations of people:
1. Ergonomics reduces costs. By systematically reducing ergonomic risk factors, you can prevent costly MSDs. When you prevent the injuries, you’ll also reduce the associated costs.
2. Ergonomics improves productivity. The best ergonomic solutions will often improve productivity. By designing a job to allow for good posture, less exertion, fewer motions and better heights and reaches, the workstation becomes more efficient.
3. Ergonomics improves quality. Poor ergonomics leads to frustrated and fatigued workers that don’t do their best work. When the job task is too physically taxing on the worker, they may not perform their job like they were trained. For example, an employee might not fasten a screw tight enough due to a high force requirement which could create a product quality issue.
4. Ergonomics improves employee engagement. Employees notice when the company is putting forth their best efforts to ensure their health and safety. If an employee does not experience fatigue and discomfort during their workday, it can reduce turnover, decrease absenteeism, improve morale and increase employee involvement.
5. Ergonomics creates a better safety culture. Ergonomics shows your company’s commitment to safety and health as a core value. The cumulative effect of the previous four benefits of ergonomics is a stronger safety culture for your company. Healthy employees are your most valuable asset; creating and fostering the safety & health culture at your company will lead to better human performance for your organization.
To realize these benefits, you will need an effective and sustainable ergonomics improvement process. This process will systematically identify and remove ergonomic risk factors by implementing ergonomic controls (engineering and administrative).
At Ergonomics Plus, we use a 6-step ergonomics improvement process:
- Step 1: Prioritize Jobs for Ergonomic Analysis
This prioritized list should be developed by the ergonomics team based on an initial facility tour, review of MSD history and data collected by employee surveys. - Step 2: Conduct Ergonomic Analysis
This analysis will objectively measure risk for each job in the workplace and help you develop an ergonomic opportunity list. - Step 3: Develop an Ergonomic Opportunity List
Developing an ergonomic opportunity list allows you to prioritize company resources in order to effectively and efficiently reduce risk by putting the appropriate controls in place. - Step 4: Determine Best Solution with Team Approach
A multi-disciplinary team should be involved in determining the best controls for implementation. - Step 5: Obtain Final Approval and Implement Solution
If the improvement requires a significant capital expenditure, cost-justify the solution to gain approval. - Step 6: Evaluate the Ergonomic Improvement
Once improvements are in place, close the loop on the project by evaluating the ergonomic improvement and measuring its effectiveness.
Once the ergonomic improvement has been evaluated for effectiveness, you can return to the ergonomic opportunity list for your next project.
(For more on our ergonomics process, download our Ergonomics Improvement Process Flowchart.)
Your ergonomics improvement process should systematically identify and control risk through workplace improvements. Remember, ergonomics is not about conducting assessments – it’s about making improvements to the workplace.
Individual Controls
Remember the individual risk factors from earlier?
Here’s a quick review:
- Poor work practices. Workers who use poor work practices, body mechanics and lifting techniques are introducing unnecessary risk factors that can contribute to MSDs.
- Poor overall health habits. Workers who smoke, drink excessively, are obese, or exhibit numerous other poor health habits are putting themselves at risk for not only musculoskeletal disorders, but also for other chronic diseases that will shorten their life and health span.
- Poor rest and recovery. MSDs develop when fatigue outruns the workers recovery system, causing a musculoskeletal imbalance.
- Poor nutrition, fitness and hydration. For a country as developed as the United States, an alarming number of people are malnourished, dehydrated and at such a poor level of physical fitness that climbing one flight of stairs puts many people out of breath.
Workers who expose themselves to these risk factors are at a greater risk for developing an MSD. They are hampering their body’s ability to recover from daily fatigue.
What can you do about it? How can you create a healthy, fit and engaged workforce?
Just like putting controls in place to reduce ergonomic risk factors, you can put controls in place to reduce individual risk factors. We call them “individual controls”, and they control individual risk factors while also empowering individual workers.
- Education and Training Process: Employees should be trained on all aspects of human performance, including ergonomics, MSD prevention principles and individual health and wellness. Formal classroom training and one-on-one follow up ensures the message is getting through. For more specific help on education and training, download a free copy of our Education Ebook here.
- Early Intervention Process: The early warning signs of future injuries are present in your workforce today. Early intervention is a proactive strategy designed to discover early warning signs of MSDs and prevent the early warning signs from developing into an injury. These one-on-one consultations with individual workers are often the last line of defense between risk factors present and an injury. For more on early intervention, download a free copy of our Early Intervention Ebook here.
Stay Tuned
This is the third post in our MSD Prevention 101 series. Sign up for the Ergonomics Plus newsletter to stay up to speed on the rest of the posts in this series.
