PRESS RELEASES

March 2011
Activists of the highest order, an article published by OPSEU which recognizes Catherine Fenech for her work representing the injured worker community and raising awarness about repetitive strain injuries (RSI)


OSH in figures: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders in the EU - Facts and figures
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) remain the most common occupational disease in the European Union and workers in all sectors and occupations can be affected. Recent figures, for example from Austria, Germany or France, also demonstrate an increasing impact of musculoskeletal disorders on costs. This latest report, following on from the Agency’s previous research, aims to give an updated overview of the current European situation as regards musculoskeletal disorders, the trends over the years since the first campaign in 2000, and a detailed insight into the causes and circumstances behind MSDs. The report highlights the main issues and aims to provide a well-founded evidence base, helping policy makers, actors at enterprise and sector level, as well as researchers and those who record, prevent and compensate occupational diseases in the European Union to set the agenda for the next years.
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Firefightershttp://www.prweb.com/releases/Firefighters/Injury_Prevention/prweb2863574.htm
video
http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wear_vid_3823.shtml


July 23, 2009
Daily Commercial News
OH&S | Professional Services
Combating muscoskeletal disorder in the construction sector

PETER KENTER
correspondent

They’ve got 20 good ideas on how to combat musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in the construction sector, but these researchers are pursuing a concept that’s a little more esoteric.

“What we’re really hoping to do is to identify ways in which construction companies accept and don’t accept new safety innovations and how they successfully transmit safety information throughout the organization,” says Enzo Garritano, Manager of Technical Services for the Construction Safety Association of Ontario (CSAO). MSDs were chosen as the target of the study, because they represent 34 per cent of all lost-time injuries among Ontario construction workers.

The study is being funded by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario (WSIB) and conducted in partnership between the CSAO and the Centre of Research Expertise for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders (CRE-MSD) at the University of Waterloo.

As part of the study, the researchers selected 20 MSD-prevention strategies that are being used successfully in Ontario, and presented no financial barriers to companies who chose to adopt them.

“We’re not using esoteric strategies that may have a track record in Europe,” says Dr. Desre Kramer, Associate Director, Networks & Knowledge Transfer at the CRE-MSD.

“We first needed to know that the strategies are already being used successfully in at least one or two Ontario construction companies. We also excluded any strategies our sector experts felt were widespread enough to no longer be deemed as innovative, or those that appeared similar to another innovation.”

Under the study, volunteer construction companies will be evaluated as to their pre-existing level of MSDs. The companies will then select one MSD prevention strategy and attempt to introduce it to the workplace in whatever way they choose. “At the end of the one-year study period, we’ll not only evaluate how extensively the strategy was being used and whether it reduced MSDs among workers, but how the messages was delivered, whether the workers liked the program, how easy they found it to adopt the program in their work and whether the program presented any problems,” says Kramer. “Our focus is on the communication channels being used.”

Once the study is completed, the results will be analyzed and potentially used as a template for successfully introducing new safety concepts into the construction workplace. Those ideas will be transmitted to the construction sector through members of various CSAO committees who meet on a regular basis. “One thing we do understand is that ideas are most successfully introduced to the construction sector through companies who are considered to be opinion leaders,” says Kramer. “Construction companies have the greatest credibility with other construction companies.”

Preliminary research shows that two construction trades — masons and electricians — are more successful than others in communicating new safety concepts to their workers. “While we have some ideas of why this appears to be true, we don’t want to make any generalizations,” says Kramer. “We want to find out whether their ability to communicate these ideas is transferable to other trades.”