Preventing Sprain and Strain Injuries in Your Workplace
Summary:
Introduces musculoskeletal injuries (MSIs) as common workplace injuries affecting muscles, tendons, ligaments, and nerves, highlighting their high occurrence, associated direct costs (e.g., physiotherapy, wage replacement), and indirect costs (e.g., productivity loss, absenteeism).
Explains ergonomics as the science of matching jobs and environments to worker capabilities and limitations to prevent MSIs, emphasizing proactive identification of hazards and risk factors.
Details the Workers Compensation Board’s Six-Step Prevention Guide, including employee engagement, education and awareness, risk identification, risk assessment, control implementation, and evaluation, with flexibility for integration into existing workplace systems.
Describes three practical tools for MSI prevention: Risk Mapping Tool (high-level organizational overview), Discomfort Survey (role/task-level early warning system), and Workplace Inspection Checklist (task-level observational assessment).
Highlights the importance of quantifying risk factors—repetition, awkward posture, heavy loads, inadequate breaks, temperature, vibration, contact stress, and psychosocial factors—to align job demands with worker capabilities and reduce injury risk.
Intended Audience:
Employers, safety officers, supervisors, ergonomists, HR professionals, and employees responsible for health, safety, and MSI prevention in workplaces across industries.
Who it's for:
Employers, safety officers, supervisors, ergonomists, HR professionals, and workers
What you'll learn:
What's a musculoskeletal injury (MSI) and why they are common in the workplace
How the high frequency impacts direct (e.g., physiotherapy, wage replacement) and indirect costs (e.g., productivity loss, absenteeism)
What is ergonomics and how to match jobs and environments to worker capabilities and limits
How to identify MSI hazards and risk factors
WCB's 6-Step Prevention Guide and how to integrate it with your existing workplace systems