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Checking for musculoskeletal injury risks

Lab Safety Advisor, December 5, 2006

Are your employees at risk for a musculoskeletal injury? Do the jobs require employees to repeatedly

  • bend and twist their wrists?
  • twist their arms?
  • reach behind their bodies?
  • reach or lift things above shoulder level?
  • twist or flex their backs?
  • lift objects from below knee level?
  • work with their necks bent?

If you said yes to any of these questions, you should take corrective action.

Musculoskeletal disorders can keep an employee off the job. The following is a list of illnesses or injuries by the National Safety Council for the percent of time employees took away from work in 2003:

Sprains and strains

6%

Back pain

5%

Carpal tunnel syndrome

5%

Soreness other than back

5%

Hernia

4%

Tendonitis

2%


In other words, if an employee is experiencing carpal tunnel syndrome, you can expect the employee to be off work 5% of the time due to this illness. Taking corrective action now can save time and money in the future.

According to the National Council on Compensation Insurance, the average cost to the employer for a healthcare professional missing work due to an ergonomic-related illness was $29,027 per employee per incident in 2004.

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