When Julia noticed that her wrists and shoulders ached after a day of grocery checking, she wrote it off as simple fatigue. When the symptoms became more persistent she visited her doctor, who diagnosed her with carpal tunnel syndrome, brought on by the repetitive motion of scanning and lifting.
George worked in the retail industry for nineteen years before the time spent standing on hard floors and lifting and bending forced him into an early retirement.
The majority of job-related musculoskeletal injuries (MSIs) occur in the manufacturing or retail industry. However, many employers don’t consider it a serious health issue. A look at the statistics provides the reality. In 1998, 46 percent of all claims in Retail and Wholesale distribution related to strains and sprains.
Musculoskeletal injuries include a group of conditions that involve the nerves, tendons and muscles, and supporting structures. They represent a wide range of disorders, which can differ in severity from mild periodic symptoms to severe chronic and debilitating conditions. Carpal tunnel syndrome, bursitis, and low back pain are all examples of musculoskeletal injuries. Retail industry workers perform a variety of tasks including warehousing, stock distribution and pricing, customer service, checkout operation, cleaning and administration. These jobs can range from manual handling activities such as lifting and carrying to pushing and pulling, and holding often stressful body postures. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that many of the injuries experienced by retail workers can be traced to repeated movements, static work and lack of recovery time.
Norm Groskopf is Canadian Tire’s Manager, Environment Health and Safety. In his role, Groskopf is responsible for managing employee safety for Canadian Tire’s supply chain including its two Brampton distribution centres, both of which operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. "Our goal is to reduce or eliminate the main type of MSIs we experience, namely sprains and strains," he notes. "We want to get to our employees before they suffer a musculoskeletal injury."
The impact of those injuries can be dramatic, including loss of worker productivity; lost time from work; temporary or permanent disability; inability to perform job tasks; and increases in worker compensation costs.
How do you know if an employee is at risk? Taking a look at the workplace activities that are likely to cause injury, reviewing injury records and interviewing staff can help you put together a comprehensive list of the risks that currently exist. "We’ve just completed an ergonomic assessment of our shipping department work activities to look at how much we can practically do," says Groskopf. "That assessment helped us identify places we could make changes to reduce the risk of injury."
Examining the factors that can increase the risk of injury is a positive step in reducing MSIs. Do job tasks involve sudden, jerky or hard to control movements, bending, twisting or reaching, sustained or stressed working posture, repetition or the movement of objects from below mid-height level or above the shoulder? Are cashiers maintaining static postures for long periods of time? Are shipping and receiving clerks lifting loads that are heavy, bulky or difficult to grip or require excessive force to move? Poor lighting can cause headaches and eyestrain; temperature fluctuations can lead to tightened muscles and drowsiness.
Certainly, the best way to prevent an injury is likely to eliminate the activity that caused it. That, however, may not always be possible. At Canadian Tire, many of the shipping and receiving tasks have been automated using a conveyor system. It is designed to reduce the stress on employees to lift and carry items although bulky items such as ladders and tailpipes must still be handled manually. "Where we can eliminate the risk, we do," notes Groskopf. "The reality is, however, we can never eliminate all risk."
All new employees should be provided with appropriate training, including supervisors and managers; health and safety representatives; and staff responsible for work organization, job and task design, purchase of equipment, and buying and merchandising stock.
Changing the way a job is done can help. So can redesigning the workplace. Other ways to prevent or reduce injury include the use of protective clothing, a program to encourage safe work practices, adequate lighting, maintenance of equipment, and team lifting.
Changes to the workplace don’t have to be expensive. If increased cost is involved, the results will justify the means. Just take a look at how it can be substantiated with savings on the cost of injuries or improved productivity.
Excerpted from: The Safety Mosaic, Vol 4, No. 1, Spring 2001
