MSDs - facts and figures from the EU and from EU Member States Dr. Elke Schneider, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work

This presentation: oThe Agency and its European risk observatory oThe problem oRisk observatory data – only some to stimulate debate: Women, young workers, healthcare, temporary agency workers, teleworkers oIssues to be considered - conclusions

European risk observatory  Provide an overview of OSH/MSDs in Europe (no benchmarking or country comparisons)  Highlight trends on OSH/MSDs outcomes and risk factors  Provide early identification of newly emerging risks in the workplace  Identify areas/issues where more information needed

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 : ophysical - force, repetitive movements, vibration, awkward postures oorganisational - low autonomy/job satisfaction, repetitive work at a high pace oindividual - medical history, physical capacity, age

Most common recognised occupational disease in Europe (% of total ODs, EODS EU15, except Germany, Greece and Ireland)

EU data – Recognised occupational diseases by gender (% of total ODs, EODS EU15, except Germany, Greece and Ireland)  

EU data - MSDs (EODS )  Trends: oMSD + carpal tunnel sdr increased by 32% from 2002 to 2005 (by 39% among women) oMSD + 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 omostly three diseases: hand/arm tenosynovitis, epicondylitis of the elbow and carpal tunnel syndrome

MSDs – occupational diseases data from Member States are variable, 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 to (83,3% to 86,4% of the total of occupational diseases)  Germany: The 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

Costs due to MSDs (source: eurogip)

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”

MSDs in service sectors increasing Spain - occupational diseases - MSD Source: Occupational Diseases File

Spain – body part affected by MSDs by sector Source: VI Encuesta Nacional (2006)

Spain, main postures at workplaces Source: VI Encuesta Nacional (2006)

Gender dimension  activities where the majority of the EU-27 workforce were women in 2006: otextiles,clothing, leather + footwear manufacturing oretail trade and repair ohotels and restaurants ofinancial services ohealth care and social work

Recognised MSDs – EU data by gender (absolute number of MSDs and carpal tunnel sdr, EODS EU15, except Germany, Greece and Ireland)  

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)

Groups at risk – women in manufacturing (EU data from EWCS 2005)

Health care sector, Europe  About 78% are female.  + 10% from 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 estimated 6-7 million women lift or move people and 3-4 million report backpain

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 ¾ (76%) work shifts  More than half work nights (51%)  Almost all work Saturdays, Sundays and holidays (94%, 91,5%)

Groups at risk– Women in the health care sector (EU data from EWCS 2005)

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%)

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 of young 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

Groups at risk – young workers in manufacturing (EU data from EWCS 2005)

Vibration exposure notable for women and young workers (EU data from EWCS 2005 (for YW) and 2000/2005) Women YW

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 )  About half of these workers have contracts with a duration between 1 week and 3 months  Working conditions of temporary agency workers oMore standing (76% vs. 57%) oMore carrying of heavy loads (37 vs. 24 %) oMore unfavourable postures (19 vs. 16%) oMore noise, unfavourable climatic conditions, PPE use oMore paced work (39 vs. 32 %) oLess job control (31 vs. 25 %)

Temporary Agency work – an example (Germany, SUGA 2006)  Health problems of temporary agency workers oMore: pain in hands and arms (32 vs. 22%) pain in legs and feet (29 vs. 22%) pain in the knees (25 vs. 19%) tiredness, exhaustion (48 vs. 43%) oLess satisfied with physical working conditions (26 vs 16 %) training opportunities (46 vs. 30%) type and content of work (21 vs. 7%) opportunity to apply skills (24 vs. 13%)

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.

Points for consideration and discussion  Include groups normally not at focus of attention (young workers, women, temporary agency workers)  Consider changes 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)  Include workers on shift work, night and weekend work, and part-time workers – working time patterns are changing!  Include exposure to vibrations  Detailed monitoring is necessary, and important, also to assess gender differences  Look closer at risks involving lower limbs  Addressing the “whole load on the body” — i.e. all the strains  Tailor rehabilitation policies to include all groups

National policies - how Member States address MSDs Examples  UK-horizon scanning, issues for OSH: agency workers, use of keyboards and of mobile devices, increased wireless use (e.g. ‘BlackBerry Thumb’),  Austria: 2007 programme and new OSH stategy: for health sector and transport assessment of MSDs risk factors, training of labour inspectors and development of tools to monitor exposure for inspection and for the enterprise level  Germany: OSH strategy has identified the decrease in MSDs as one of its main strategic goals

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 -  And the MSDs Single Entry Point  And the Risk observatory Webpage:

Thank you for your attention!