Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Join
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Join
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

StressLatest NewsOccupational HealthWellbeing

Impact of musculoskeletal disorders on labour market must be given higher priority by government

by Mike Berry 7 Sep 2007
by Mike Berry 7 Sep 2007

The government needs to give a higher priority to the impact of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) on the labour market, according to a new report from think-tank The Work Foundation.

MSDs is an umbrella term that covers more than 200 different ailments, including arthritis, back pain and damage to joints, muscles and tendons.

MSDs affect twice as many people as stress and cause 9.5 million lost working days, according to Health and Safety Executive figures.

The Fit for Work: Musculoskeletal Disorders and Labour Market Participation report argues that early intervention and an emphasis on keeping sufferers in work wherever possible are likely to boost national productivity and help reduce the 2.6 million people claiming incapacity benefit.

Michelle Mahdon, senior researcher at The Work Foundation, said: “Stress hogs headlines, but in terms of people affected, MSDs are the bigger problem, affecting more than a million people a year.

“What urgently needs to change is the attitude of many GPs and employers that an MSD sufferer must be 100% well before any return to work can be contemplated. Too many see only incapacity rather than capacity.”

The report calls for:

  • Partnerships between patient, employer and GP to achieve a balance between an individual’s need for respite and the need to work.
  • Better job design: managers can change the ways work is organised – from adjusting working time and altering task allocation, to improving ergonomics.
  • Enhanced measurement of direct and indirect costs of MSDs: much better mechanisms to assess and monitor the social and work impact of MSDs are needed.

Dame professor Carol Black, the government’s national director for health and work, welcomed the report: “I hope that, in time, MSDs will become less relevant to work and working life. Until then, efforts to raise awareness of them must continue with ever greater urgency.”

Avatar
Mike Berry

previous post
Reward and performance management programmes failing to keep pace with demands facing businesses
next post
Former Royal Mail employee seeks compensation for race discrimination and unfair dismissal

You may also like

Maternity leave: Cost of living crisis highlights need...

25 May 2022

Employees resigning in 2022: Survey shows ‘great resignation’...

24 May 2022

Tube strike on 6 June to see 4,000...

24 May 2022

Navigating the widening “Skills Confidence Gap” in 2022,...

24 May 2022

The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls

24 May 2022

Top 10 metrics HR leaders are using today...

24 May 2022

Record prostate cancer screenings post-pandemic

24 May 2022

Signs of severe eating disorders often missed, warns...

23 May 2022

Hybrid working trends: ONS data on where people...

23 May 2022

Aspers casino cashier excluded by colleagues wins £75k...

23 May 2022

  • The importance of being an ethical leader and how to become one PROMOTED | What is ethical leadership?...Read more
  • RPO Report: 2022, The Year to Outsource PROMOTED | Employers should be overwhelmed with choice...Read more
  • Report: Enabling organisational agility through talent & people success PROMOTED | Work has been challenged...Read more
  • Employee Trends 2022 report PROMOTED | Edenred research on employees analysed the key employees’ trends for 2022...Read more
  • How finance apprenticeships can boost business PROMOTED | As the world’s most forward-thinking professional accountancy body...Read more
  • Paul Devoy: Showing appreciation to the Investors in People community PROMOTED | Ask most people what comes to mind when you mention Investors in People...Read more
  • White paper: How digitalisation can support evolving occupational health PROMOTED | Download this free white paper to discover how digitalisation can help occupational health meet emerging challenges...Read more

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Join
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today