Preventing MSDs & Driving Ergonomic Improvements

Improving ergonomics to prevent musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) is a key element of OSH programs for most organizations. MSDs are a major cause of losses and a persistent source of frustration. The authors have heard from OSH managers about the challenges in proving to their top managers the effectiveness and value of their current ergonomics program. Through benchmarking studies and experience working with Fortune 1000 companies, the authors have determined that the success or failure of an organization’s ergonomics program depends on the selection of a few correct measures. Unfortunately, traditional lagging safety measures, specifically injury/illness rates, are still used by many safety managers to drive struggling ergonomics programs (Aon, 2016; Humantech, 2011). The OSH profession has identified reliance on lagging measures as a root cause for failed and ineffective ergonomic improvement programs. This article details the few leading measures specific to MSDs that are proven to ensure leadership support and resources, and to sustain the ergonomic improvement program across multiple locations and across time. It also provides definitions and illustrations of different types of measures to enable OSH managers to better evaluate and select the optimal measures for their organizations. Traditional Safety Measures Applied to MSD Management To understand the best measures for managing MSDs, one must understand the foundation of the most commonly used safety measure, the injury/ illness rate. Use of this lagging measure began in 1972, with reporting injuries and illnesses to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) through the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), and it became the basis for the OSHA recordkeeping requirements in 1978 (OSHA, 2009). Reported through the OSHA log, the injury/illness rate provided a common measure for all employers to use when comparing their performance (injury rate) with their industry type (BLS, 2016a). BLS (2016b) describes the purpose of SOII estimates as a method to provide national and state policymakers with: