Musculoskeletal Awareness Days

Musculoskeletal disorders are the most common cause of occupational ill health in Great Britain currently affecting 1 million people per year and costing society £5.7billion annually.

Raising awareness of potential musculoskeletal injuries and risk reduction is traditionally addressed by manual handling training, but this only addresses part of the problem. Our innovative and highly interactive solution is to provide companies with Musculoskeletal Awareness Days. Feedback and evaluation of our MSK Awareness Days show that they are highly valued and cost effective.

What are Musculoskeletal Awareness Days?

MSK Awareness Days are a full day programme of group sessions of 30 - 60 minutes duration, designed to raise awareness of the risk factors related to MSK injuries, and what individuals can do to minimise these risks. The content for each group session is dependent on the job type of the attendees, for example the content for managers will differ from that of manual workers or office workers. We will tailor the content according to your worker's job tasks.

Content

The content is based around the following key messages:

  • Minimizing risks of MSK disorders in the workplace – risk factors, potential short-term and long-term harm and how to avoid
  • Fitness - importance of core stability, balance and flexibility to complement strength
  • Basic manual handling
  • Back care and management of back pain
  • Management of sprains and strains (esp. lower limb)

    • Physical demonstrations, attendee participation and competition ensures that attendees not only enjoy the training but are therefore also more likely to recall and act on the information provided; this is further backed up by provision of toolbox talks – see below.

    Toolbox talks

    To reinforce the key messages, toolbox talk delivery information is provided for the company to deliver within their own timeframe in the weeks following the MSK Awareness Days.