Preventing MSDs
October 1st 2007

With October's European Health & Safety Week focusing on the problems of MSD's (musculoskeletal disorders), Mark Burletson, general manager at Sovella, explains how a modular approach to workspace equipment and system design can help minimise these issues and make a positive contribution to a company's profitability

This year's European Health & Safety Week campaign (22-26 October 2007) was dedicated to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The aim of the 'Lighten the Load' campaign, as it was called, was to support employers, workers, safety representatives and other stakeholders in improving MSD prevention across Europe. As part of the week, the HSE worked with the TUC to provide safety representatives with regional training events on MSDs, together with a range of useful webbased MSD checklists.

MSDs are the most common form of ill-health disorders at work, both in the UK and across Europe. Work-related MSDs affect 1.0 million people in Great Britain alone each year. Problems include back pain, work-related neck and upper limb disorders (ULDs), including repetitive strain injuries, and lower limb disorders. Raising awareness, prevention and management are all key factors in reducing MSDs.

Manufacturers can help customers reduce the incidence of MSD's through the design, manufacture of effective human-centered workstation equipment. The key here is the consideration of the individualsī requirements in all planning. Employees should not be forced to adapt to a system based on purely technical considerations.

Therefore, when planning the work environment, the concept of ergonomics must be extended to include the whole psycho-physical function of the human being, with the objectives of ergonomic planning being to safeguard the health of the workers, to improve their effectiveness and increase their job satisfaction.

There's no such thing as average To achieve these results, it is essential to understand the major pre-conception in workstation planning, that is, "an average or a standard person does not exist". Once this is accepted, we can move quickly to the pretty obvious conclusion that workstations must be easily and quickly adjustable to suit individual human needs, and should be designed, manufactured and supplied in close co-operation with the customer.

What do ergonomic workstations mean in practice? Put simply, a modular product architecture, the potential for easy and versatile adjustment and a wide range of accessories. All workstation parts such as tables, shelves and accessories, should be independently and instantly adjustable. Manually handled items (eg tools, IT equipment, documentation, components, workpieces, and so on) can be positioned and re-positioned for easy access, demanding minimal effort when in use. The overall aim is to create a "working envelope" where we can also achieve extra efficiency benefits through maximising the use of the available working area and avoiding the creation of clutter. Within this envelope, working movements have to be fluent and comfortable, thereby creating a feeling of satisfaction and well being. At the same time, all tables can be configured and should be capable of being re-adapted where necessary to meet current and future production needs therefore assuring a sound return on investment.

As a result of this kind of approach to workstation planning, the employee is relaxed and the work movements follow the natural movement paths of the body. The work position can be easily adjusted and changed during work to suit for instance left or right handed people or those of a different height. Correctly adjusted workstations will help decrease strain and continuous tension of muscles which operators will experience and encourages healthier working positions and habits.

Everyone has a different muscular-skeletal makeup; they may have a longer or shorter reach, different shoulderelbow lengths, different spine-to-arm-length ratios and so on. That's why it is essential that workstations can be easily modified and fine-tuned to suit the requirements of different personnel, even if they are carrying out exactly the same process as the last person to occupy the position. The payback of greater comfort is significant: process efficiency increases, resulting in a greater product throughput while the physical demand on the operator and the risk of MSD's decreases, discouraging absenteeism, improving workforce retention rates and helping to generate a greater yield per operative.

For more information on MSD's and how to prevent them, visit www.hse.gov.uk/campaigns/euroweek