Work Shouldn't Hurt

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• We all experience occasional pain and discomfort at work, but work shouldn’t hurt.
• Use this body diagram to help locate pain and discomfort patterns in your workplace.
• Talk with your supervisor, manager, or boss if you have pain at work.
• Address workers’ pain/discomfort, and take action to identify and control MSD hazards.

What to do if workers have pain

Use these ideas to improve tasks at work and at home.

• Workers should talk with their supervisor, manager, or boss about their pain at work and possible causes.
• Pain that doesn’t go away before the start of the next workday, or continues over a weekend, should be reported immediately.
• Use the body diagrams with individuals or groups of workers to locate body areas of concern.
• Work to eliminate or reduce the six hazards described in this Quick Start Guideline.

Did you know?

• MSD hazards can lead to fatigue, discomfort, pain, and disability. These hazards can also make previous MSD problems worse.
• A job that overloads the body and doesn’t allow it to rest and recover can lead to discomfort, pain and disability after weeks, months, or years.
• We all experience occasional pain and discomfort, but work shouldn’t hurt.
• We all have different bodies, so some  people develop pain and discomfort i n a job with MSD hazards while  another person may not.

Improve your workplace

• Keep asking yourself and others, “Why do I hurt when I do this job or task?” until you understand the problem.

What are we going to do today to eliminate pain and discomfort at work?

Think of 3 ideas.

Whatever changes you make, check that you are not creating any new problems.