Is Your Work Space Good For Your Body?

Are you like the many, many Australians who work at a desk or on their feet for long hours every day?

If so, your workspace combined with workplace stress may be taking a physical toll on your body.

Do you experience headaches, neck or back pain?

These could be signs of a work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WMSD).

National WorkSpace Week (October 21 to 27) is dedicated to the prevention and early intervention of WMSDs, Australia’s leading workplace injury.

‘Body Stressing’ injuries account for 32.7 percent of all serious claims and develop because of ergonomic hazards of workers undertaking hazardous manual tasks like manual handling and computer usage; tasks which include sedentary, repetitive movements or lifting, pulling, pushing and carrying objects.

The sort of tasks almost all of us undertake daily.

WorkSpace Week is focused on helping to reduce the occurrence and impact of WMSDs caused by physical stress, mental stress, repetitive work and poorly set up non-ergonomic workspaces.

Now in its third year, an initiative of the Australian Chiropractors Association (ACA) in 2022 to tackle the physical challenges workers faced during the pandemic due to working from home, WorkSpace Week has evolved to align with National Safe Work Month (October).

National Safe Work Month is not just for blue collar workers, it’s for all workers, including those who, more often than not, are glued to their computers for hours at a time.

This is why WorkSpace Week is an important community education initiative, to facilitate a conversation about ergonomics and healthy work practices.

Key facts:

WMSDs are the number one work, health and safety issue impacting Australian workers - Safe Work Australia.

The annual cost of MSDs to the Australian economy, including direct health costs, lost productivity and disease burden (Deloitte Industries) is $55.1 billion.

Twentynine percent (7.3 million) Australians suffer from chronic MSDs (ABS National Health Survey June 24).

Compared with 26.8 percent of men, 30.8 percent of women suffer MSDs (AIHS 2024).

Occupational exposure contributes to 17 percent of back pain burden in Australia (AIHW 2024).

Most impacted occupations - labourers, community and personal services, trades, machinery operators, professionals using computers.

The majority (57 percent) of Australian workers’ compensation claims are for WMSDs and cost around $65,000 per serious claim (Safe Work Australia & SafeWork NSW).

In 2023 MSDs were the third largest health burden (13 percent), behind cancer (17 percent) and mental health (15 percent) (AIHW 2024).

The top four WMSDs in Australia are low back pain, neck pain, mid-back pain and cervicogenic headaches.

There are simple and effective prevention strategies and activities individuals and workplaces can adopt to minimise body stressing including taking part in the #StraightenUpAustralia Challenge - a three-minute exercise programme using the free Straighten Up App which can help reduce and minimise the impacts of Body Stressing.

Interested workplaces can register to access free resources, including the Stand Corrected posters, fact sheets and more at www.workspaceweek.org.au

• Topics:

• The Workplace
• Health & Fitness
• Health & Wellness