Surveys show gaps in reporting, tools, and trust that could drive disability and absence costs
Workers say they are in pain – and many stay quiet about it even when their employer believes prevention systems are in place.
Two MSD Solutions Lab surveys of non‑managerial staff show how frontline experience of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) can diverge from what safety leaders report, with clear implications for absence, disability and retirement plans.
Pain is common, reporting isn’t
In the survey, 70 percent reported MSD‑type signs or symptoms in their current roles and 64 percent said they had missed work because of them.
The back was the most frequently affected area, followed by wrists and hands, knees, shoulders, legs and neck.
In a separate survey, 65 percent said they had experienced pain at work.
Just over half of those workers reported pain immediately or within a day, but 28.8 percent did not report it at all.
About 23.2 percent said they either had no method to report early signs or symptoms of MSDs or were unsure how to do so.
Understanding and communication matter.
Workers who reported a stronger understanding of their organisation’s safety and health initiatives, who heard ergonomics mentioned more often, and who were regularly asked about MSD symptoms tended to report pain more promptly.
The frequency of ergonomics discussions at work showed a strong positive correlation with how workers rated their employer’s ability to prevent MSDs.
Older workers and new hires stand out
Age patterns suggest certain groups may be more exposed to unmanaged MSD risk.
As age increased, workers were less likely to understand their organisation’s safety and health initiatives, less likely to view their workplace as able to prevent MSDs, and less likely to report pain quickly.
Older workers were also less likely to say they had access to proper ergonomic tools and equipment, and more likely to be unaware of – or not use – methods to suggest safety or ergonomic improvements.
Newer employees, when they knew how to suggest improvements, did so less often than longer‑tenured workers.
Leaders and workers see different systems
MSD Solutions Lab compared frontline responses with its MSD Solutions Index, a survey of safety and health leaders from organisations in similar industries.
Leaders were more likely than workers to say:
- their organisation supplies proper ergonomic tools and materials “always” or “often” (74.6 percent of leaders versus 57.9 percent of workers)
- methods to report pain exist (100 percent versus 76.7 percent of workers)
- an ergonomics or MSD prevention programme is in place (83.5 percent versus 69.8 percent of workers)
Leaders also reported higher levels of frontline involvement in job tasks, equipment decisions, workstation design, workflow, return‑to‑work processes, mental health and wellbeing, and workplace culture.
In areas such as return‑to‑work and mental health, more than 30 percent of workers said they were never involved, while only about 10 percent of leaders said they never involved workers.
Across the worker survey, higher scores for involvement, safety culture and trust were strongly associated with more favourable views of MSD prevention and faster reporting once pain occurred.
Tools, training, and psychosocial risks
Most respondents (81.4 percent) said their organisation has a new hire orientation.
However, instructions on how to safely use ergonomic equipment, what to do when that equipment breaks and other MSD‑specific content were among the least common topics.
Just over half of workplaces (51.1 percent) offered ergonomics or MSD prevention training, generally monthly or quarterly.
While almost 70 percent of workers said their organisation has an ergonomics or MSD prevention programme, qualitative responses suggested nearly one in five had little or no understanding of what MSDs are, and fewer than 1 percent explicitly linked MSDs to ergonomics.
Workers most often identified lifting, lowering or carrying; prolonged sitting or standing; and computer‑related repetitive activities as key MSD risks.
They also highlighted non‑physical drivers: 40.8 percent cited fatigue and 40.3 percent cited workplace stress as important factors.
Fatigue appeared most often in construction and transportation and warehousing, while stress was most common in service roles such as customer service, licensed trades, civil servants and health‑care workers.
Mixed feelings on technology
When asked about using robots, cobots or wearable devices to reduce MSD risk, 40.9 percent of workers said they were excited about how technology could improve their jobs, 28.0 percent were neutral, 17.7 percent were hesitant and 13.4 percent were conflicted.
Among those with reservations, 55.4 percent pointed to data‑use concerns and 48 percent worried about job replacement.
Among those who were excited, 72.1 percent cited increased productivity or efficiency and 64.5 percent cited better product or service quality; 40.8 percent mentioned safety improvements.
Comfort with using technology at work was higher in environments where workers reported greater involvement in decision‑making, stronger safety culture and higher trust, and where proper ergonomic equipment was available.
Yet 61.8 percent of respondents said their workplace either did not actively use technology to reduce MSD issues or they were unsure whether it did.
