LRD guides and handbook August 2013

Health and safety law 2013

Chapter 8

Manual handling

Musculoskeletal disorders (also known as MSDs), including back pain and RSI (see Chapter 8), continue to be the largest cause of time off work, accounting for just over a quarter of all days lost or 34.4 million days in 2011. According to the HSE Statistics for 2011-12, there were 439,000 cases of MSD out of a total 1,073,000 for all work-related illnesses.