Ergonomics in the Transportation Sector April 12 th 2007 Co-hosted by THSAO and CRE-MSD

CRE-MSD or the Center of Research Expertise for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders bridges between researchers and workplaces

Musculoskeletal disorders are painful or disabling injuries to the muscles, tendons or nerves in the lower back, shoulders, neck, elbows, wrists or hands. They are aggravated or caused by overexertion and overuse at work.

The CRE-MSD research team has expertise in ergonomics, bioengineering, spine biomechanics, kinesiology, evaluation, occupational medicine, epidemiology, sociology, and education.

CRE-MSD is made up of a virtual network of twenty- two researchers across seven universities, the Institute for Work & Health and the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers.

MSDs or musculoskeletal disorders are a blanket term for a range of conditions that create pain and disability of the low back, shoulder, neck, lower limbs and hand/ wrist

CRE-MSD Vision: To bring together researchers and workplace parties to identify the key questions, find the best research answers, and pass on the best knowledge that will lead to the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders at work.

Conference Objectives Synthesizing what is already known about MSD- prevention in transportation Collecting sector knowledge to feed into the sector- wide research study.

MSDs or musculoskeletal disorders are also known as “pains and strains”, “Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI)”, “Overexertion or Strains”, “Musculoskeletal Injuries (MSI or MSK)” and are found in all countries

The transportation sector has a high burden of musculoskeletal disorders, with 5,218 MSDs claims accepted in 2003 in Ontario

Commercial trucking in Ontario creates employment for 200,000 workers, which is 4.8% of the Ontario workforce.

The trucking sector has a high injury rate and MSDs from approximately 60 to 69% of these (calculated from 2004 data)

THSAO Vision: Our vision is to eliminate human suffering that we believe is socially, morally and economically unjust so that we move toward the prevention of all workplace injuries and illnesses.

The transportation sector has the highest lost time injuries per 100 Full Time Employees of any sector

Researchers at CRE-MSD join with workplace parties to reduce musculoskeletal disorders and disabilities by utilizing knowledge developed from basic research and workplace studies

CRE-MSD organizes workshops on the prevention of MSDs

The Centre receives substantial funding through a grant provided by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. We would like to sincerely thank all of the people and organizations that have helped us arrange this conference.