Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD) & Ergonomics

Preventing Musculoskeletal Disorders

The goal of MSD prevention is to minimize or eliminate MSD hazards in the workplace to reduce the number and likelihood of workers being injured or experiencing pain on the job. Adopting a stepwise approach to recognize, assess, control, and evaluate MSD hazards can assist in standardizing the approach to MSD prevention. This approach can be broken down into the following steps:

• Ensure senior management commitment and employee involvement
• Program needs assessment
• Program development
• Program implementation
• Program evaluation and continual improvement

Such an approach acknowledges these various practices, which together, create a unique structure to manage MSD hazards and related issues that address the unique needs of each organization. The key to successful health and safety hazard management is not only identifying and controlling risks in the workplace but also evaluating and continually improving the system itself.

The Internal Responsibility System (IRS) encourages the participation of all workplace parties in occupational health and safety. This notion of participation is reinforced through the legislated duties outlined for all workplace parties in the OHSA, meaning health and safety is a shared responsibility.

All workplace parties can do their part to meet their legal duties - participation, collaboration and cooperation of all workplace parties are key factors to a successful prevention effort.

Here are some tools to help you along the way:

• MSD Program Checklist
• Sample MSD Policy
• Discomfort Survey
• MSD Inspection Questions
• General MSD Hazard ID tool
• MSD Risk Assessment

Ontario MSD Prevention Guideline

The Centre of Research Expertise for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders (CRE-MSD) has led a collaborative process to develop a new Ontario MSD Prevention Guideline, updating the older 2007 version and supporting the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development’s priorities in the Strategic Framework and Small Businesses.

Pains and strains, repetitive strain injuries (RSI), low back pain, shoulder pain, or carpal tunnel syndrome, collectively known as Musculoskeletal Disorders or MSD, represent one of the leading causes of disability and pain in workers and the largest source of employers’ compensation claims. This new Guideline will assist organizations in the prevention of MSD through the use of its content and resources.

The Guideline has been designed for all companies and workers to address the prevention of MSD, which includes three versions based on an organization’s size and available resources:

Quick Start Guideline: General

Tailored to organizations that:

• Are small or very small (also called “micro” businesses)
• May have a Health and Safety Representative
• May not have much knowledge and few resources in Health and Safety
• May be unfamiliar with MSD and their prevention

Basic Guideline

Tailored to organizations that:

• Have a person or persons with knowledge, experience, and responsibility for Health and Safety
• Have a Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC)
• Have policies and procedures for health and safety addressing most hazards but want to improve their MSD prevention activities

Comprehensive Guideline

Tailored to organizations that:

• Have multiple persons and/or a Department with special knowledge, experience, and responsibility for Health and Safety
• Have a formal management framework that is used to oversee the organization's activities
• Have a formal or informal management system for Health and Safety, such as ISO 45001 or CSA Z1000
• Have comprehensive policies and procedures for health and safety that address most hazards but want to improve their MSD prevention activities.

Office work shouldn't hurt! Small changes in the office can make a big difference in preventing the development of MSD. The Office Quick Start Guideline contains quick workplace fixes to help keep workers free of MSD while performing office work. It provides basic information and encourages businesses to get started on preventing MSD during office work and helps workers configure their workstations. This Quick Start Guideline is comprised of fact sheets and posters that can be downloaded and distributed freely.

The website content includes an introductory video and fact sheet, newly developed hazard identification and control approaches, graphics, and downloadable templates and documents that can be found in the Resource Library.

MSD Resources

Training & Related Services

Ergonomic Services

PSHSA offers a wide range of ergonomic services designed to meet your workplace health and safety needs.

Learn More

 

eOfficeErgo: Ergonomics eLearning for Office Workers

This eLearning course is designed so that participants can learn about the risks associated with computer work at their own pace, in their own environment.

Learn More

 

 

Research

• Client/Patient Handling Community of Practice
• Institute for Work & Health (IWH) MSD Prevention
• CDC – NIOSH Ergonomics and Musculoskeletal Disorders
• Emergency medical technician-paramedics: Understanding and preventing risks

Initiatives

• Dr. Leon Genesove explains MSD risks and hazards

MLITSD Municipal Ergo Initiative Resources

• Recorded Joint Information Webinar with the MLITSD (2018-2020)
• PSHSA/MLITSD Ergonomics Initiative in Municipalities – FAQ
• MLITSD Municipality Initiative - Ergonomic Results

Articles & Blog Posts

Posture Check! Ergonomics Matter 365 Days A Year

One in every ten Canadian adults have had a repetitive strain injury (RSI) serious enough to limit normal activities. Is this happening to you?

Read

 

Tips for Setting Up Your Home Office

Since many organizations have made the move to becoming a virtual organization, we wanted to share a few ergonomic tips.

Read

 

The Potential for MSD in Childcare Workers

As a childcare worker, we are naturally concerned over the safety of the children, but often times, we overlook our own safety.

Read

 

Additional Resources

• Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB)
• Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety: Ergonomics
• Association of Canadian Ergonomists (ACE)