- 1. MSDs - facts and figures from the EU and from EU Member
States Dr. Elke Schneider, European Agency for Safety and Health at
Work
2. This presentation:
-
- The Agency and its European risk observatory
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- Risk observatory data only some to stimulate debate: Women,
young workers, healthcare, temporary agency workers,
teleworkers
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- Issues to be considered - conclusions
3. European risk observatory
- Provide anoverviewof OSH/MSDs in Europe (no benchmarking or
country comparisons)
- Highlighttrendson OSH/MSDs outcomes and risk factors
- Provideearly identificationof newly emerging risks in the
workplace
- Identify areas/issues wheremore information needed
http://riskobservatory.osha.europa.eu/ 4. MSDs affect
- Muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments and nerves in the back,
neck, shoulders and upper/lower limbs
- The risk factors, working alone or in combination, include
:
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- physical- force, repetitive movements, vibration, awkward
postures
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- organisational- low autonomy/job satisfaction, repetitive work
at a high pace
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- individual- medical history, physical capacity, age
5. Most common recognised occupational disease in Europe ( % of
total ODs , EODS 2002-2005. EU15, except Germany, Greece and
Ireland) 6. EU data Recognised occupational diseases by gender( %
of total ODs , EODS 2002-2005. EU15, except Germany, Greece and
Ireland) 7. EU data - MSDs(EODS 2002-2005)
-
- MSD + carpal tunnel sdr increased by 32% from 2002 to 2005 (by
39% among women)
-
- MSD + carpal tunnel sdr accounted for 59% of all recognised
disease covered by EODS in 2005 (about 85% of all ODs among
women)
- Focuses mainly on upper-limb disorders
-
- mostly three diseases: hand/arm tenosynovitis, epicondylitis of
the elbow and carpal tunnel syndrome
8. MSDs occupational diseases datafrom Member States arevariable
, but indicate that it is an important issue
- UK- MSDs most commonly reported type of work-related illness,
with an estimated 1,012,000 people affected
- Spain:The number of MSD has fluctuated since 2000 between 12
884 to 20 489 (83,3% to 86,4% of the total of occupational diseases
)
- Germany: T he highest number of working days lost due to MSDs
(2002: 26%, 2004: 24,3%)
- Poland: cases of vibration syndrome are the most common chronic
musculoskeletal disease
9. Costs due to MSDs (source: eurogip) 10. Groups at risk -
Trends in employment(2004 data)
- More than 66% of the workforce is employed in the services
industry
- Biggest employers manufacturing industry (19%), wholesale and
retail trade (16%), health (10%) and education (7%)
- In 2003, among the jobs created in newly born enterprises in
that year, about 72 % were within services and 17 % in
construction.
- Employment has also risen substantially in the elementary
occupations and in service workers and shop and market sales
workers
11. - - + + 12. MSDs in service sectors increasing Spain -
occupational diseases - MSD Source : Occupational Diseases File 13.
Spain body part affected by MSDs by sector Source: VI Encuesta
Nacional (2006) 14. Spain, main postures at workplaces Source: VI
Encuesta Nacional (2006) 15. Gender dimension
- activities where the majority of the EU-27 workforce were women
in 2006:
-
- textiles,clothing, leather + footwear manufacturing
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- health care and social work
16. Recognised MSDs EU data by gender ( absolute number of MSDs
and carpal tunnel sdr, EODS 2002-2005. EU15, except Germany, Greece
and Ireland) 17. Spain Health problems of workers by body part and
gender
- Neck ache significantly more frequent in women than men (32
vs.24 %)
Base :Total of workers Source : National Survey of Working
Conditions (published 2007) 18. Groups at risk women in
manufacturing (EU data from EWCS 2005) 19. Health care sector,
Europe
- + 10% from 2000-2006 in the EU-27 as compared to the total:
8.6% to 9.5 % of all workers
- Within the female working population it has increased from 15
to 17%.
- About 3 % of the EU working population (or 6.8 million) are
women who work in the health care sector and who have to lift or
move people.
- In the health care sector, an estimated6-7million women lift or
move people and 3-4 million report backpain
20. Health care workers carry more than construction
workers(Germany, BAuA survey, published Nov.2007)
- 2 in 3 have to carry heavy loads (compared to 1 in 2 for
construction workers)
- 93,8% have to do their work standing
- 36% have to work in unfavourable postures (kneeling, bending,
squatting, etc.)
- 71% have to do more than one task at a time
- More than (76%) work shifts
- More than half work nights (51%)
- Almost all work Saturdays, Sundays and holidays (94%,
91,5%)
21. Groups at risk Women in the health care sector (EU data from
EWCS 2005) 22. Health care workers carry more than construction
workers(Germany, BAuA survey, published Nov.2007)
- 57% men and 64 % women have back pain
- 66 % women and 54% men have pain in neck and shoulders
- 37% of the women have pain in the legs
- > 40% suffer from high emotional load (compared to 11 % on
average)
- More than 1 in 4 feel that they hardly cope (27 vs 16.6 %)
- Twice as many as on average have sleeping problems(37% vs.
19%)
23. Groups at risk Young workers
- Physically demanding tasks common among young workers which
means that they are at considerable risk of developing MSDs.
- ES: > 75% newly declared occupational diseases ofyoung
workers in 2004 MSDs
- estimated 4 million young workers in the EU under the age of 25
have backpain
- BE: In a study of 716 healthcare and distribution workers (aged
25-29) 13 % had developped back pain lasting > 7 days within 1
year
24. Groups at risk young workers in manufacturing (EU data from
EWCS 2005) 25. Vibration exposure notable for women and young
workers(EU data from EWCS 2005 (for YW) and 2000/2005) Women YW 26.
Temporary Agency work an example(Germany, SUGA 2006)
- Most of the jobs are in manufacturing, unskilled labour, eg. in
construction, and service jobs, including retail and low-skilled
office work increasing trend (x 3 1995-2006)
- About half of these workers have contracts with a duration
between 1 week and 3 months
- Working conditions of temporary agency workers
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- More standing (76% vs. 57%)
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- More carrying of heavy loads (37 vs. 24 %)
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- More unfavourable postures (19 vs. 16%)
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- More noise, unfavourable climatic conditions, PPE use
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- More paced work (39 vs. 32 %)
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- Less job control (31 vs. 25 %)
27. Temporary Agency work an example(Germany, SUGA 2006)
- Health problems of temporary agency workers
-
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- pain in hands and arms (32 vs. 22%)
-
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- pain in legs and feet (29 vs. 22%)
-
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- pain in the knees (25 vs. 19%)
-
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- tiredness, exhaustion (48 vs. 43%)
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- physical working conditions (26 vs 16 %)
-
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- training opportunities (46 vs. 30%)
-
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- type and content of work (21 vs. 7%)
-
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- opportunity to apply skills (24 vs. 13%)
28. Teleworkers- UK-horizon scanning
- Currently, 8% of the workforce are teleworkers.
- It is suggested that by 2015, 70-80% of workers could be, at
least partially, working from a remote location.
- mainly increase in people working in different places using
home as a base, rather than working from home, levels of which have
remained relatively stable.
29. Points for consideration and discussion
- Includegroups normally not at focus of attention(young workers,
women, temporary agency workers)
- Considerchanges in employment patterns(move from industry to
service professions, working at home, home carers, working from a
remote location, temporary agency work, short-term contracts)
- Includeworkers on shift work, nightand weekend work
,andpart-time workers working time patterns are changing!
- Includeexposure to vibrations
- Detailed monitoringis necessary,and important, also to assess
gender differences
- Look closer at risks involvinglower limbs
- Addressing the whole load on the body i.e. all the strains
- Tailor rehabilitation policiesto include all groups
30. National policies - how Member States address MSDs
Examples
- UK-horizon scanning, issues for OSH:agency workers,use
ofkeyboardsand ofmobile devices , increasedwirelessuse (e.g.
BlackBerry Thumb),
- Austria: 2007 programme and new OSH stategy: forhealth
sectorandtransport assessment of MSDs risk factors ,trainingof
labour inspectors anddevelopment of tools to monitorexposure for
inspection and for the enterprise level
- Germany: OSH strategy has identified the decrease inMSDs as one
of its main strategic goals
31. Where to find out more
- There is more help and advice on how to stay safe and healthy
at work on the Lighten the Load website
-http://ew2007.osha.europa.eu
- And the MSDs Single Entry Point
-http://osha.europa.eu/topics/msds
- And the Risk observatory Webpage:
http://riskobservatory.osha.europa.eu/ 32. Thank youfor your
attention!