Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) mainly comprise:

WRULDs are chronic (persistent) injuries such as tenosynovitis and carpal tunnel syndrome and result from repetitive tasks such as on production lines. WRULDs account for around 23% of cases of occupational ill health in food and drink manufacture.

Chronic back pain can result from repetitive or awkward lifting (e.g. on packing lines, production lines) and account for around 35% of cases of occupational ill health in food and drink manufacture.

Main causes of musculoskeletal injury

In the food and drink industries, most musculoskeletal injuries arise from just 5 causes:

These are key tasks to which attention should be paid when carrying out risk assessments.

How do we know if we have a problem?

Injury and health problems show up in different ways, such as:

If you have a problem it will be costing money from sickness absence, high staff turnover, retraining, loss of production etc.. 

Managing the risk

Further guidance

Updated 2021-09-01