HEALTH MATTERS: Condition affects millions of workers but is preventable and easily cured if caught early

A repetitive strain injury (RSI) checklist was published last week amid reports that one-in-50 workers suffers from upper limb disorders. Symptoms include pain and immobility in the joints, nerves and muscles, from the fingers to the neck.

Britain's Trades Union Congress (TUC) last Saturday issued guidance for 200,000 union safety representatives and urged them to use their legal powers to inspect their workplaces for the risks of RSI. Yesterday was International RSI Awareness Day.

Figures released by the TUC claimed that 506,000 or one-in-50 workers in Britain suffers from symptoms of RSI. In 2001, 5.4 million days were lost in sick leave due to RSI, while every day six workers left their jobs because of RSI. About a third of workers with RSI are under 45, and 55 per cent are women, said the TUC.

According to TUC general secretary Mr John Monks, RSI affects millions of people around the world every year. "It is entirely preventable and easily curable if caught early. Union safety reps can now use the HSE's [Britain's Health and Safety Executive\] risk filter to help managers get a grip on the risks of RSI and prevent suffering, job loss and poverty for thousands of people. We want to see partnership in action, preventing RSI," he said.

RSI can be prevented by ergonomic analysis of workstations, changing the way work is managed, treatment by physiotherapy and rest.

The new guidance for union workplace safety representatives on how to spot RSI risks in their workplace was published in Risks - an excellent, free, online bulletin for safety representatives and employers sent each week automatically to your e-mail. (To register for the e-mail service, see www.tuc.org.uk/risks/).

The TUC "risk filter" was designed by the HSE for its inspectors. It highlights the main causes of RSI, such as repetitive work, posture, force and vibration. The TUC asked safety representatives in Britain to mark International RSI Awareness Day by inspecting workplaces using the risk filter, which they are legally entitled to do.

The TUC hoped employers and managers could join with them in the assessment as a partnership initiative. Where significant risks are found, safety representatives ask management for a full risk assessment to be carried out of the jobs most at risk, leading to subsequent action to eliminate or reduce the risks.

The full investigation can be done using the additional guidance contained in HSG(60) (REV), published yesterday and available through the HSE website or from HSE Books.

The TUC guidance deals with identifying problem tasks. The TUC recommends that safety representatives and employers identify symptoms among the workforce by body-mapping, further details of which are available at Hazards magazine website (www.hazards.org/ diyresearch/index.htm).

The TUC guidance notes the warning signs of RSI such as injury records, jobs involving aches or discomfort, and jobs from which workers request re-deployment.

Step one of the risk filter looks for signs and symptoms of RSI, such as diagnosed cases, complaints or improvised changes to work stations. Step two looks at repetitive aspects of work - if an action needs to be repeated every few seconds or more than twice a minute.

Step three examines working postures present for two or more hours per shift, such as up and down movement, awkward positions, stretching, rotating controls or being required to hold joints in fixed positions.

Step four looks at sustained force such as pushing, pulling or gripping objects. Vibration is examined in step five - for instance, workers' use of powered hand-held tools or equipment.

If the safety representative or manager carrying out the assessment identifies even one risk factor, the employer should carry out a full risk assessment for that job, says the TUC.

Other factors such as psychosocial influences and the working environment (high job demands, lack of control, cold and poor lighting) can further increase the risk of RSI, says the TUC.

The Congress suggests that risk factors affecting RSI can be grouped as task-, environment- or worker-related. Task-related factors include repetitive movements, high force requirements and static or awkward working postures. Environmental factors include a poor working environment and psychosocial factors, while worker-related factors include workers' individuality. Each of the three categories is discussed in detail in the guidance.