Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)

For more information on Work related upper limb disorders click here for the relevant chapter of the TUC guide to health and safety "Hazards at Work

Repetitive strain injuries affect hundreds of thousands of workers every year in Britain.

RSI covers a wide range of injuries to muscles, tendons and nerves. Usually hands, wrists, elbows or shoulders are affected. Knees and feet can also suffer, especially if a job involves a lot of kneeling or operating foot pedals on equipment.

The more common workplace strain injuries are sometimes called Work Related Upper Limb Disorders or WRULDS. This can lead to permanent disabilities, so must be stopped at an early stage.

There are many different names for these conditions, including: Tenosynovitis; carpall tunnel syndrome; tendinitis; dupuytren’s contracture; epicondylitis or ‘tennis or golf elbow’; Bursitis; ‘Housemaid’s knee’ or ‘beat conditions’, and overuse injury.
To prevent strains, however, requires an acknowledgement that workers are not there to provide the flexibility in the system, through contorting and stressing their bodies and brains to cope with poorly designed equipment or systems of work, or through increasing their work rate to accommodate production demands, or because the workforce is too stretched, too cowed or too insecure to complain.

Links

TUC guide: RSI: The Basics

Worksmart RSI FAQs and resources


The most recent documents available on this subject are:

Work strain injury victims are being let down

A lack of positive practices to support people with musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in work is leaving hundreds of thousands at risk of lost earnings, reduced productive working time and early retirement.

PDF version available for download
14 December 2012
Stress, overwork and office hazards top workers' safety concerns

Stress or overwork, injuries and illnesses caused by the poor use of display screen equipment and repetitive strain injuries (RSI) top the list of workers' safety concerns, according to the TUC's biennial survey of safety reps published today (Monday...

27 October 2008
Children should learn typing at school to help stop RSI epidemic, says TUC

To mark RSI Awareness Day today (Wednesday), the TUC is calling on the Government to help stop the epidemic of the condition that affects tens of thousands of workers across the UK by introducing typing and keyboard skills into schools.

28 February 2007
Corporate killing bill paves way for more safety prosecutions, says TUC

Although the Government's draft bill on corporate manslaughter will make it easier to prosecute firms found guilty of safety crimes, individual directors must be made liable for accidents and injuries sustained at work, if there is to be any change i...

13 June 2005
London seeks to lead Britain in the challenge to secure better health and safety at work

A world class city must have world class workplaces, that means aspiring to and achieving world class standards of health and safety at work - not for some, but for all. And the roadmap for turning that dream into a reality includes there being a hea...

19 November 2004
RSI Day - employers should train staff to type safely

On International Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) Awareness Day (Saturday) the TUC are calling on all employers to ensure that any employee who uses a keyboard regularly is trained to use it so that it does not harm their health. People who have not be...

28 February 2004



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