Businesses and the Government need to do more to protect workers from repetitive strain injury (RSI), physiotherapists have said. Official figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show the rate of RSI has hardly changed in the past six years, with more than 200,000 sufferers a year in the UK. RSI covers a range of musculoskeletal problems in the upper limbs and neck.
As a result, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) wants employers to be compelled to provide occupational health services. In analysing the figures, they found that injuries were most common in building trades, health and social care and amongst factory workers. The group has estimated that RSI costs businesses £300 million a year in lost working time, sick pay and administration. Those affected take an average of 13 days off work each year, meaning that overall nearly three million working days are lost annually in the UK.
In 2007/08, 213,000 people in work had RSI problems that were caused or made worse by work, and of these 81,000 were new cases. This compared to 222,000 in 2001/02, of which 87,000 were new cases. Pauline Cole, an occupational health expert at the CSP said, "There has been little improvement despite the increasing focus on workplace health. Government and business need to do more to tackle the problem."
She has called for a statutory duty to be placed on employers to provide occupational health services and suggested that the Government offer tax relief to businesses to help them to do so.
