3342 Manual handling and ergonomic guidance sheet no.1: Business case for addressing manual handling & ergonomics risks

Business Case for Addressing MH & Ergonomics Risks

Background

Despite efforts to reduce musculoskeletal risks, many injuries are still occurring offshore from physical activities including:

• Manual Handling (MH)
• use of equipment and tools
• work in poor postures
• physically demanding tasks performed over long periods.

Offshore environments are considered by many to be harder to control than their onshore equivalents, due to their isolated locations and the time required to get additional equipment from the ‘beach’.

A ‘can-do’ attitude prevails amongst offshore workers, and problem solving to ‘get the job done’ is common, but this can result in some risks to individuals being overlooked – both by Managers and the Operators. This may increase the cumulative exposure to poor postures, repetitive actions and large forces on the body, which are known to increase the risk of musculoskeletal injury.

Aims of this Guidance

1. Assist Managers and Supervisors to tackle hazards and reduce risks that are currently leading to reportable, lost time injuries offshore.
2. Encourage an Ergonomic approach to managing risks associated with manual tasks and recorded injuries.

What this Sheet Covers

This sheet makes the business case for reducing risks of injury due to manual handling activities and poor ergonomics. It is intended to be a resource for managers and supervisors

Defining the Problem

Employers must understand the business costs of musculoskeletal injury caused by manual handling activities or poor ergonomics. Benefits are achieved from:

• designing,
• planning,
• acting to reduce these risks.

This sheet provides information to highlight these costs and benefits.

Costs

Health & Safety Executive (HSE) reports (2015-16) that:

• 41% of all work-related ill health is due to Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WRMSDs)
• an average of 16 working days are lost for each WRMSD case.
• absence due to WRMSDs represents 34% of all days lost due to work related ill-health annually.

Time & Financial Costs

Case Study 1

Manual handling injury claims cost a company £150,000 over a 3-year period. This totalled 20% of their employers’ liability claims.

Case Study 2

In 1 year a firm lost 373 working days because of manual handling injuries. This cost about £24,000 in wages paid to absent workers. There were additional overtime payments and other costs. The introduction of handling aids, manual handling training, and a rehabilitation programme reduced days lost to 74 and wage costs to about £5,000. (INDG398 rev 1).

Add to these figures the cost of evacuation from the installation or the loss of wages for those unable to pass offshore medicals due to past injuries. The case for reducing the risk of injury is compelling for companies and individuals alike.

Why Injuries are Occurring:

An HSE commissioned study of 126 incidents of manual handling injury that had occurred in the offshore oil and gas sector found that the main root causes were NOT lack of training, poor individual techniques or inadequate risk assessment. In fact the following 5 root causes accounted for over 66% of manual handling injuries (personnel with responsibility for these factors are shown):

1 poor workplace design (Designer)

2 poor equipment design (Designer, Management)

3 inappropriate equipment (Management, Individual)

4 procedural failure (Management)

5 avoidable task not avoided (Management)

Risks are NOT being sufficiently reduced simply by Training and Assessment of Manual Handling risks.

High rates of injury show that training and assessment is NOT ENOUGH on its own.

Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD) Risk Factors

Musculoskeletal injury can occur through a single exposure to an awkward movement, but it is more commonly a result of the cumulative (build up over time) exposure to risk factors. A seemingly simple movement may be associated with an injury, but it is damage that has already occurred (‘micro-traumas’) which are likely to be the real underlying reason for the injury. The risk factors for cumulative musculoskeletal injury are well known. They include:

• working in awkward postures (e.g. bent over, leaning, twisting, joints held away from their relaxed position e.g. arms raised / held outstretched, fingers stretched);
• working in static postures (where there is little movement);
• repetition of the same movements over and over, with insufficient rest and recovery for the muscles;
• application of force by the body (e.g. pressing, squeezing items, or handling loads);
• application of force to the body (e.g. leaning on a hard surface);
• long durations of these activities with insufficient rest and recovery for the muscles;
• manually handling loads;
• inadequate support in seats;
• exposure to vibration;
• working in cold conditions;
• personal factors such as age, some illnesses and injuries.

Benefits of Reducing Manual Handling & Musculoskeletal Risks

Improvements to MH tasks can benefit productivity, efficiency and quality as well as reduce the risk of MSDs – ergonomics can benefit overall system performance. Improving MH should:

• reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injury (sprains, strains etc); crush and contusion injuries etc
• reduce the risk of damage to materials and goods e.g. dropped loads may be damaged
• reduce the risk of environmental damage through release to sea of damaged loads or structures
• improve employee engagement in pro-active risk management
• improve operational efficiency.

Financial benefits can be seen in reduction of staff absence, retention of skilled staff (and improvement in work procedures), reduced numbers of incident investigations and litigation cases.

Action that Can be Taken

When identifying the MH risks to be addressed, managers and supervisors should refer to the HSE and their own company methods and documentation in order to:

The guidance produced here draws attention to other aspects of the workplace and working life that can also contribute to musculoskeletal disorders and cumulative or sudden injuries. Ergonomics methods look at user-centred and system-wide risk reduction.

As advised by the HSE, a successful Ergonomics intervention programme follows these steps:

1 identifying the issues and committing to action – Visible management support for safe activities is vital

2 creating the right organisational environment (e.g. Safety Conversations, Near-Miss reporting and Lessons Learned)

3 assess and Reduce the risk of MSDs in your workplace (remember to assess the risk of cumulative loading as well as sudden injuries)

4 educate and inform your workforce

5 manage any episodes of MSDs

6 carry out regular checks on the programme’s effectiveness.

Effective Control Methods

• As seen from ’Why Injuries are Occurring’ (above) the majority of incidents have their root cause with designers, management and supervisors. Any effective risk reduction changes must start with them.
• Feedback of ‘lessons learned’ to designers, manufacturers and procurement can significantly improve future iterations of equipment, tools and workspaces
• Communication of requirements between Managers, Supervisors and Individuals is vital to understand the effects of job design (space & time available, confounding factors) and the risks that can be introduced by poorly thought-through changes.
• MH training alone is not effective. However, evidence shows Ergonomic interventions which include risk assessment + observation of workers + tailored training + task/equipment redesign are beneficial (HSE Research Report 583 (2007)).
• Staff affected by risk reduction changes must be included in the development and trial of those changes.

Further Reading

HSE RR500: Manual Handling Incidents Database, A compilation and analysis of offshore industry reports → bit.ly/2xagjiN

HSE RR583: Manual handling training – Investigation of current practices and development of guidelines → bit.ly/2v7Eqxb

HSG60 (rev 2): Upper limb disorders in the workplace (2002) → bit.ly/2wmxdxu