Ark Workplace Risk ™

Tips on Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI) and Upper Limb Disorders (ULD)

How to be pain free and save your business from increased staff sickness and compensation claims

You'll probably know RSI and ULD are potential issues for people who are linked to their laptop for most of the day, but did you know that it is not only the office worker who is at risk? All industry has workers who have to be aware. Tasks such as painting, sawing, panel beating etc. all place pressure on the upper limbs.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have issued figures that show there were 115,000 new cases last year. That's around a 30,000 increase on the previous year.

What are the symptoms?

RSI & ULD cause musculoskeletal problems and affect the upper limbs, and can therefore appear in the form of problems with hands, wrists, necks, arms and upper back. There can be a wide range of symptoms such as tenderness, stiffness, weakness, tingling, numbness, cramp or swelling

Why Should I Care?

The obvious answer to this question is that you want your staff to be fit and healthy as a good employer. You do not want your employees to suffer permanent disability because of the work they carry out. If you are not convinced by these answers there are Legal and Financial issues to consider.
Financially, it is estimated that lost sickness costs about £300 million per annum to British companies through sickness and lost production
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 put legal duties on employers to prevent ULD

Some Questions You Need To Ask

Have you had a qualified person assess the risks from both a legal point of view and from an occupational health perspective?
Have you taken simple actions such as looking at the equipment or the way work is organised?
If you are office based have you completed Display Screen Equipment assessments for all employees who could be affected? [This is a requirement of the DSE Regulations1992 (amended 2002)]
If your staff do manual tasks (even occasionally) then have you created safe systems of work for employees to follow?

Have you considered the main causes?

• repetitive and heavy lifting
• working with vibrating machinery
• bending and twisting repeating an action too frequently
• uncomfortable working position
• exerting too much force
• working too long without breaks
• adverse working environment (e.g. too hot, too cold)
• psychosocial factors (e.g. high job demands, time pressures and lack of control)
• not receiving and acting upon reports of symptoms quickly enough

Have you considered replacing equipment that could be prone to causing RSI problems?

Optimal Risk Management With Ark

Top brand clients work with Ark Workplace Risk to optimise their control and management of risk, so they can save cost and get on with their business. You can draw on the expertise of our qualified staff to carry out DSE and other risk assessments, so you can set a benchmark. You can have your Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems audited, so you can identify your strengths and weaknesses. With Ark's extremely user-friendly H&S management software you can simplify and optimise your risk and H&S management and cut down administration time.
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