Musculoskeletal disorders at work

Employers must protect workers from the risks of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) being caused or made worse by work. MSDs include injuries and conditions that can affect the back, joints and limbs. You:

The parts of the body most likely to be affected by MSDs are:

Workers can have different kinds of MSDs at the same time.

Manage the risk

You must manage the risk of MSDs in your workplace. If these risks exist, you must consider both the requirements for a general risk assessment and specific assessments of other risks, for example, from:

Causes of musculoskeletal disorders

There are risk factors causing MSDs in many types of work, so you should think about the risks of various tasks, depending on the work you do:

Or the risk factors can be to do with the work environment or organisation:

Or they can be to do with the workers themselves:

Talk to your workers

You must consult with your workers or their elected representatives on health and safety issues. They know what they find difficult and often know how to improve things. Talking to them about how to improve health and safety will also make it easier to agree changes. Workers will be more likely to follow procedures they have helped design.

Make sure your workers know how to report any injuries or work-related health problems to you or their health and safety representative. Encourage them to do this early. Body mapping may help with this. This is a technique you can use to collect evidence about the effects of work on the body. You can use it to:

An occupational health provider can give advice on a worker's fitness for work and any restrictions or adaptations to their work.

People with MSDs usually recover completely if the problem is recognised early and treated appropriately.

The law

There are several laws relating to musculoskeletal disorders (other laws may also apply in your industry).

Musculoskeletal disorders in specific industries

For more details about controlling MSDs in particular industries, look at their web pages.  The industries with the most reported incidents of MSDs are agriculture, construction, health and social care and transport and logistics. There is also specific information on MSDs in, for example food and drink handling and MSDs in food and drink, catering, woodworking, motor vehicle repair, cleaning, air transport, ports and docks, printing, textiles and waste and recycling.

2021-06-30