Health and Safety
Executive / Commission
Musculoskeletal disorders
A further education college had noticed that the cost of agency staff was increasing and their sick pay costs for the year were over £765,000. This prompted an enquiry into the sickness absence records. They identified that the days lost due to musculoskeletal disorders cost over £137,500 in the last year. This was the greatest reason for absence during the last 3 years. They also considered the number of accidents that resulted in musculoskeletal injuries and the number of staff complaining of back problems. The time lost costs for all musculoskeletal sickness and work-related accidents were calculated to be £138,592 (direct costs only).
This prompted the college to refresh their health and safety arrangements for all those performing moving and handling tasks, those working with computers, and those working with other risky jobs.
They considered how they could successfully implement the Faculty of Occupational Medicine's Guidelines for the Management of Low Back Pain at Work. The programme was costed to provide rehabilitation services for the average number of staff who were off for more than 2 weeks in the previous 2 years.
As the costs of the programme were lower than the time lost costs for musculoskeletal disorders, it was felt that they could make a cost saving through the implementation of an active rehabilitation programme. They only needed to drop musculoskeletal absence by 13% to demonstrate a cost benefit.
A report was produced for the Director of Human Resources and Director of Finance outlining the time lost costs and comparing them to the implementation costs for the active rehabilitation programme. After a short presentation, funding for the programme was approved.
The programme called "Back into Action" involves fast track physiotherapy and active rehabilitation. A physiotherapy service and a fitness instructor with specialist knowledge of musculoskeletal disorders and pilates, were contracted to implement the scheme at a cost of £15,000 for the year. All staff were given time within their working day to access the programme.
The programme has proved to be beneficial because it focused not only on reducing work-related musculoskeletal risks, but provided a pro-active caring approach that not only reduced the company's sickness absence costs, but demonstrated the college's commitment to its most valuable resources, its employees.
Occupational Health Guidelines for the Management of Low Back Pain
at Work. Faculty of Occupational Medicine March 2000.
ISBN 186016 131 6
