by Shane Henson — January 1, 2014—Companies that implement ergonomic risk assessments could see a reduction in their number of workplace injuries related to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), according to an article in the December issue of Professional Safety, a magazine published by the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE). The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) estimates that MSDs cost U.S. businesses more than $20 billion a year.
MSDs are injuries or disorders of the muscles, nerves, tendons, joints, cartilage and spinal discs, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As noted in the article, titled “Improving Ergo IQ: A Practical Risk Assessment Model,” MSDs represent one-third of all disabling workplace incidents and more than 40 percent of workers’ compensation costs in the United States.
Authors Bruce Lyon, Georgi Popov and Kevin Hanes stress that implementing ergonomic risk assessment models and tools can help manage ergonomic risks and reduce MSDs. After developing goals and objectives, companies need to train a cross-functional ergonomics team to oversee the process. The authors recommend these teams review workers’ compensation claims and incident reports to determine if jobs or tasks have a history of MSDs.
By looking at that history and talking to employees in those work areas, the ergonomics team may identify, collect, analyze and evaluate each risk’s severity. Once the assessment is complete, the authors recommend these teams enter risk factors into an ergonomics risk assessment tool to determine whether the job’s ergonomic risk is at an acceptable level or requires additional controls.
