Development of Toolkits for Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Prevention of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders based on a Collaborative Platform

Abstract

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) is currently not only a health problem in enterprises across six European regions which are Catalonia (ES), Lombardy (IT), SouthWest Bohemia (CZ) Upper Austria (AU), Estonia (EE), Provincie Noord-Brabantv(NL), but also impacts negatively on productivity and on the competitiveness of enterprises. This project, granted by Innovation 4 Welfare (I4W), will provide a high value to enterprises in the participating regions. However, although EU-legislation has established new and highly innovative technical standards the area of "physical ergonomics, specifically aimed at protecting the "working population" from biomechanical and organizational risks for WMSDs, it is still not easy for users to find a suitable tool or strategy for identifying hazards and assessing risks for purposes of WMSDs prevention effectively. Additionally, there are no criteria or guidelines for teaching users how to select the best method for a specific case. Hence, this project proposes to develop a set of toolkits to help users find the most suitable and effective solution to the problem at hand. Developing toolkits based on a collaborative platform for preventing WMSDs will not only help companies improve and maintain healthy and safe working conditions, but will also promote the creation of new solutions in the field of WMSD and injuries prevention. As a result, it will significantly enhance worker health, life quality and productivity, as well as reduce sick leave absences and economic/social costs connected to work-related muscular disorders and injuries. This paper seeks to illustrate the methodology of developing toolkits for hazard identification, risk assessment and prevention of WMSDs based on a collaborative platform. In order to demonstrate this, the paper presents an analysis of the approaches and the implementation plan for toolkits development. Additionally, the paper closes by suggesting that an essential element for successful prevention of WMSDs is the interaction between the workers and the policy makers, knowledge providers.