{"id":668,"date":"2021-07-27T07:37:15","date_gmt":"2021-07-27T07:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hazardco.com\/au\/?p=668"},"modified":"2025-09-09T07:40:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T07:40:07","slug":"5-things-you-can-do-to-tackle-musculoskeletal-problems-msds-in-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hazardco.com\/au\/blog\/5-things-you-can-do-to-tackle-musculoskeletal-problems-msds-in-your-business\/","title":{"rendered":"5 things you can do to tackle musculoskeletal problems (MSDs) in your business"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]MSD is the most common workplace injury and cause of lost time at work, so spending time to focus on it makes good business sense.<\/span><\/p>\n

Research has shown that the old approach of teaching a person how to lift correctly has not been effective in reducing these problems. Many workplaces pay to bring various experts into the workplace to help them address MSDs but a lot can be done inhouse by those leading the business.<\/span><\/p>\n

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1. Survey your workers for discomfort pain and injury using a body map:
\n<\/b>To start a discussion around MSDs print and hang a poster of a body on a whiteboard or wall<\/span><\/p>\n

(see body map at the end of this article)<\/span><\/i>. Next to the poster, provide a marker or stickers for the workers to use to place crosses on the body parts where they have experienced pain or other MSD symptoms in the past week or month. Each worker can also make a mark at the bottom of the poster to indicate that they have contributed. When there is the same number of marks at the bottom as the number of workers, or it’s been established that everyone who wants to contribute has done so, the patterns that emerge from the poster can be used for a toolbox discussion and brainstorming session.<\/span><\/p>\n

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2. Ask your workers to take photos of things they think contribute to discomfort, pain and injury at work:
\n<\/b>Ask workers to take photos using their mobile phones over a two-week period. Each person (workers and managers) should take two or three photos of something that they perceive as risky or that they find triggers MSD symptoms at work. They can also take pictures of work situations or equipment that they perceive as helping to prevent MSDs. The quality of the photos doesn’t matter and they don’t have to be self-explanatory. Ask each worker or manager to provide brief explanations of their photos. To give an example of a photo of a risk, it might show the height of a ladder on a vans roof rack (which requires force and an awkward body position for workers to reach). An example of a picture of something that helps to prevent MSDs might be a photo of colleagues helping each other during a pressured time. Each person can be helped to print out their photos and stick them to a board (e.g. in a lunchroom or meeting room). Once the photo shoot is over, arrange a toolbox talk at which all the photos are on display and the topics raised can be discussed. The aim is to establish a shared understanding of what the photos represent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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3. Think about the physical and mental demands on your workers
\n<\/b>There are well-known physical and mental demands of work that lead to MSDs and lower productivity. Identify if you have any of these issues in your business:<\/span><\/p>\n