A recent study has led the TUC to urge businesses to detect and help treat musculoskeletal disorders among employees, in order to cut down health costs and reduce loss of workdays.
The study discovered that around 49% of employee absences from work as well as around 60% of permanent work disabilities in the European Union could be attributed to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). It is also estimated that MSDs cost the European Economy around £240 billion each year and the UK economy £7 billion a year.
The Work Foundation conducted a survey across 25 countries of Europe and found that around 100 million of the European population, including 40 million members of the active workforce, are suffering from severe musculoskeletal pain. It also discovered that over 40% of the working population suffering from the problem have to resign from their jobs owing to chronic pain and backache.
Managing director of The Work Foundation Stephen Bevan pointed out that MSDs are having a disastrous effect on the EU workforce as they have resulted in loss of over 9.5 million working days in the UK itself. The UK economy is not in a position to bear such losses, especially when it is trying to recover from the economic meltdown. He added that it is the duty of the policymakers to ensure that the problem is addressed at the very outset, before the condition of the employee worsens.
TUC’s General Secretary Brendan Barber has suggested that the report in fact brings out what the trade unions have been asking for a long time. He added that just over two percent of the British workforce is provided with comprehensive health care by employers, and that most of the times employees have to rely on referral procedures that take a long time, thereby aggravating the disease.
Barber further said that the trade unions want proper rehabilitation of the employees with MSDs, and that there is a need for some occupational health service at the national level so that disorders can be detected and treated as early as possible. Recovering employees also need some assistance in returning to work at the earliest, he added.
Written by Giles Kendrick
giles.kendrick@googlemail.com
http://www.workplacelaw.net
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