Approximately 25% of work related injuries across the industrialised world are back injuries. In addition a varying percentage of other manual handling related musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) feature highly in the workers’ compensation statistics. Manual handling pervades all aspects of life and work based solutions appear to be part only of the solution to the resultant MSD. However some industries show very high injury rates and are clearly more risky than others. Particularly in female employment carers in health and community provide injury statistics pointing to the high cost of handling human beings. Epidemiological evidence would suggest that some factors are more likely to cause injury, such as high force, high repetition, awkward postures (forward reaching, bending, twisting and working above the shoulders) and unexpected movement of loads. Quantification of risk from these factors is far from simple. Literature covering specific tasks and risk factors abounds, yet the outcome of repeated poor manual handling posture over time remains largely unexplored, although alluded to as a risk. The measurement of manual handling risk is not nearly so straight forward as is, for example, the measurement of the dose-effect of a chemical.
Select theme