Problem
Helping employees bear the load
In the work environment employees use joints, tendons, muscles and ligaments everyday to walk, carry and lift heavy loads in different ways. At times, the way these tasks are performed can force their bodies in awkward ways that leads to pain and injuries. These injuries are referred to musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) and cause pain & suffering to thousands of workers around the globe every year. There are many direct and indirect costs that follow suit including the inability for a worker to remain in the workforce if their pain is too acute.
Direct & indirect costs - The direct and indirect costs of MSD include:
- Overtime and replacement workers wages
- Equipment modifications
- Administration
- Retraining
- Lost productivity
- Reduction in the quality of products & services
- Employer experience ratings increase
Lost time injury – When employees are no longer able do their work due to injury they file for compensation which is referred to as a lost time claim.
"From 1996-2004 the WSIB approved more than 382,000 MSD-related lost time claims. These claims represented almost 27 million lost-time days from work and direct costs of more than 3.3 billion$." (source: Resource Manual for the MSD Prevention Guideline for Ontario, part 2)
MSDs are among the main cause –"MSDs are among the main causes of work-related physical disability; they comprise close to 38% of the occupational injuries compensated by the CSST and generate more than 40% of the compensation costs." (source: http://www.irsst.qc.ca/en/intro-tms.html)