Some way to go to beat MSDs

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the largest single cause of occupational ill health in the UK, affecting an estimate of 1.1 million people a year, delegates at this year's IOSH conference were told.

Speaking at the IOSH conference, Malcolm Darvill - head of the Health and Safety Executive's ergonomics policy - said that in 2001 MSDs became one of the Health and Safety Commission's (HSC) 'Priority Programmes'. He provided an overview of MSDs and explained the key projects in the HSC programme, outlining what had worked and where improvements could be made.

"MSD is one of eight priority programmes covering hazards and sectors where improvements are vital if targets are to be met," he said. "The structure of the programme is based on the five strands - compliance, continuous improvement, knowledge, skills and support. In the first two years of the programme, there has been success in four of the strands."

Under the programme the HSC is aiming to reduce the number of working days lost from work related ill health by 30% by 2010, and reduce the incidence rate of cases by 20%. Due to MSD alone, 12.3 million working days are lost per year and on average, each affected worker takes 19.4 days off.

Darvill outlined the progress that had been made so far. In particular, improvements in compliance has led to a difference in the management of MSDs through recording employers performance using risk control indicators, making it easier to identify where standards need to be increased and changes implemented. New guidance had also been published by the HSE to address changes in working practices and the legal system.

Continuous improvement is most apparent, according to the speaker, in the Scottish initiative 'Working Backs Scotland'. This project promotes simple messages such as 'if you have back ache, stay active, take pain relief and seek further advice if necessary'. The initiative has seen a 30% shift in opinion of what people should do if they have back pain, according to Darvill.

Research into MSD areas, such as manual handling techniques have been fruitful and have extended knowledge on the subject. Darvill also points out that the programme "support strand" has also seen success, due to the availability of guidance from the HSE on a variety of MSD areas.

However, not everything has been successful as the speaker was quick to recognise.

"There is an ongoing programme for training, but it is recognised that there is a general lack of people skilled in ergonomic assessment and control, and in MSD treatment and rehabilitation," he explained.

He conceded that the HSC had set some ambitious targets and he could not be certain whether or not they were on course and he called for an "increased effort". He suggested, for example, better compliance to reduce heavy and frequent lifting.

Feature article by Laura Montgomery