RSI Day

Webinar Series 2024

Recognizing and Preventing
Repetitive Strain Injuries at Work

2024 marked the 25^th anniversary of RSI Day. OHCOW has seen this event grow from 20 registrants in a local audience to over 1850 registrants from across 53 countries. The entire RSI Day webinar series event can be viewed through the links below or on OHCOW’s YouTube channel

Be A Beta-Tester!

Part of the 2024 RSI webinar series included the unveiling of 6 new/updated tools to assist workplaces in the reduction of musculoskeletal disorders. We are asking if anyone would be interested in assisting with beta testing of any of the tools before they are released to the general public at the end of the month. If you are, please find a link to each tool and the associated evaluation form below. Participation is of course voluntary with no limit/maximum requirement.

Due to time constraints, the following timelines would be in place:

Dates to remember

RSI Day evaluation and Beta testing signup – March 15, 2024

Deadline for Beta testing comments – March 22, 2024

Tools

Click to go to the tool and see the evaluation

Cold Stress Calculator	Evaluation
Anthropometric Calculator	Evaluation
Office Ergonomics Calculator	Evaluation
Keyboard Short Cut Tutorial	Evaluation

More to come, check back later.

WEEK 1

Thursday, February 8

10:00 am - 12:30 pm EST

Focus on Workers: 25 year History & Opioid Harm Reduction

Part 1: The History of RSI Day

Learn about the origin, implementation and importance of RSI Day over its 25 year history.

SPEAKER:
Catherine Fenech – RSI Day Founder

Part 2: Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain and Opioid Misuse

Construction work is demanding, and physical injury and disability is prevalent among workers. Painful musculoskeletal health conditions, compounded by a lack of access to adequate sick leave (to aid recovery), and a culture of prioritizing productivity over health concerns, have contributed to the problem. This presentation delves into the root causes of chronic pain, including the impact of RSIs, in relation to the overall mental and physical well-being of construction workers. The construction sector has one of the highest rates of prescription opioid use in Ontario’s economy, which is detrimental to workers and to the industry. Managing chronic musculoskeletal pain safely is key to improving health outcomes for workers.

SPEAKER:
Carmine Tiano, Director of Occupational Services
Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario

Part 3: Opioid-related harms among Ontario workers

The opioid crisis continues to grow in Canada, however current health surveillance systems that monitor opioid-related harms have limited or no employment information. The Occupational Disease Surveillance System (ODSS), designed to detect work-related disease in a large cohort of formerly injured Ontario workers, was recently expanded to identify opioid-related hospitalizations and emergency department visits. In this presentation, Dr. Jeavana Sritharan and Dr. Nancy Carnide will share findings from analyses of these data, including the occupational groups found to be at highest risk for opioid-related harms. They will also share the newly launched Opioids and Work Data Tool, which is an interactive data visualization tool used for exploring cases and rates of opioid-related harms among Ontario workers.

SPEAKERS:
Jeavana Sritharan, Occupational Cancer Research Centre (OCRC)
Nancy Carnide, Institute for Work and Health (IWH)

WEEK 2

Thursday February 15

10:00 am - 12:30 pm EST

Clinical Lessons on Key Musculoskeletal Disorders

Part 1: Plantar Fasciitis

Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common causes of foot pain affecting approximately 2 million people a year. This session examines the anatomy, causes, symptoms, diagnosis and prevention of this disorder at work.

SPEAKERS:
Pravesh Jugnundan, Physician - OHCOW Toronto
Trevor Schell, Ergonomist - OHCOW - Sudbury

Part 2: Improved and Systematic Physical Demand Analysis in the Workplace

Worker safety and productivity are crucial elements in the workplace. The application of ergonomics and the identification of connections between workers and assigned tasks have contributed to a reduction in worker injuries and discomfort, yielding positive effects on productivity, and lowering costs. It is not uncommon to observe workers in the workplace exposed to awkward body postures, repetitive motions and forceful exertion that lead to musculoskeletal disorders, resulting in operational delays.

Physical Demand Analysis (PDA) is a widely recommended tool for documenting the physical, cognitive, and environmental demands of essential and non-essential tasks. However, limitations exist in using the content generated in current PDA practices for risk identification and assessment, with limited functionality in providing modified work to proactively mitigate risk.

Three aspects of PDA implementations are discussed — risk identification, evaluation, and mitigation —aiming at the development of modified work within the return-to-work program. Ultimately, this research can contribute to the design of job tasks and work environments with the overarching goal of promoting health, safety, and productivity in the workplace.

SPEAKER:
Xinming Li (Sherry Li) - Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta

Part 3: Epicondylitis

Epicondylitis is a musculoskeletal disorder affecting the elbow with an overall prevalence in the general population reported to be between 4% and 7%. This disorder is more commonly referred to as golfer’s elbow (medial aspect of elbow) or tennis elbow (lateral aspect of elbow). This session examines the anatomy, causes, symptoms, diagnosis and prevention of this disorder at work.

SPEAKERS:
Daryl Stephenson, Ergonomist - OHCOW - Hamilton
Michael Pysklywec, Physician, OHCOW - Hamilton

RESOURCES:

PAPER: Lateral Epicondylitis: Pathophysiology and Risk Factors

WEEK 3

Thursday February 22

10:00 am - 12:30 pm EST

Cost/Benefit: Understanding Financial & Psychosocial Harm

Part 1: Ergonomics Intervention Cost-Benefit Calculator

This presentation will review the business case for ergonomics, and demonstrate a simple method for cost-justifying ergonomics projects. Links to several freely available cost-benefit models will be shared.

SPEAKER:
Rick Goggins, Ergonomist
Washington State Department of Labor and Industries

RESOURCE:

SLIDE DECK

Part 2: Ontario's Cost Calculator and Related Resources

Building on the previous presentation, this session focusses on the development and use of Ontario's Cost Calculator along with an introduction to other helpful resources by the Centre for Research Excellence on Musculoskeletal Disorders (CRE-MSD).

SPEAKER:
Jacklyn Kurt - CRE MSD
University of Waterloo

RESOURCE:
SLIDE DECK

Part 3: Measuring Workplace Stress Among RSI Day Participants – 6 years later

In 2018, RSI Day participants were introduced to StressAssess, a tool for measuring psychosocial conditions in a workplace, completing and reviewing the results of the survey live during the session. We thought it would be interesting to repeat the survey 6 years later to see if anything has changed. Please fill out the survey here and attend for a real-time update, and in the process we’ll refresh your memory regarding the usefulness of StressAssess as a workplace mental health and injury prevention tool in workplaces large and small.

SPEAKER:
John Oudyk, Occupational Hygienist
OHCOW Hamilton

WEEK 4

Thursday February 29

10:00 am - 12:30 pm EST

Knowledge@OHCOW: Products & Tools for Workers & Workplaces

Welcome and Introduction

Dr. Joel Moody, Ontario Chief Prevention Officer, Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development

Part 1: OHCOW’s Ergonomic Tools, APPs and Calculators

OHCOW’s Ergonomists have created a number of tools to assist workplaces with both identification and prevention of musculoskeletal disorders. The following presentations introduce the new/recently revised tools to assist workplace parties.

Office Ergonomics Learning Modules
Office ergonomics is more important now than it has ever been before in our efforts to decrease and/or eliminate musculoskeletal disorders. Many workplaces do not have the financial resources (or time) to correctly train their workers in ergonomics, and specifically to identify and correct office set-up and use challenges. Building on the popular Office Ergonomics Ergo Reference Guide, the Office Ergonomics e-Learning Course breaks down the key ergonomic principles of workstation components into modules that allow users to progress at their own pace, while learning how to recognize, assess, and control the ergonomic hazards related to computer work wherever it is done.

SPEAKERS:
Melissa Statham, Ergonomist - OHCOW Windsor
Dwayne Fuchs, Ergonomist - OHCOW Thunder Bay

Part 2: Revised and Updated Office Ergo Calculator, Anthropometric Calculator, Keyboard Short Cut Tutorial, and Cold Stress Calculator

While these tools were presented during previous RSI Day Webinars they have undergone significant revisions from their initial excel based format to both web and APP based programs This session aims to demonstrate the features and updates of these tools including the ability to import anthropometric data into the Office Ergonomics Calculator.

SPEAKER:
Trevor Schell, Ergonomist - OHCOW Sudbury

Part 3: Introducing JobAssess, a New Job Demands Analysis Tool

Building on the Job Demands Analysis (JDA) Excel Tool introduced last year, OHCOW has now developed a web (and soon App) version that will allow workplaces to capture a comprehensive list of the physical, cognitive, psychosocial and environmental components of jobs within their organization. The tool can be accessed by phone, tablet, or computer to assess a job in real time, and thus streamline the process of capturing associated demands. Users can download the results for their own use, or create a database account to save, build from and compare numerous assessments - a valuable prevention tool for workplaces of any size.

SPEAKERS:
Daryl Stephenson, Ergonomist - OHCOW Hamilton
Andrew Flanagan, Ergonomist - OHCOW Sarnia
David Mijatovic, Ergonomist - OHCOW Toronto

Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) refers to a category of injuries involving damage to muscles, tendons and nerves
caused by overuse or misuse.

More workers sustain RSIs than all other occupational injuries combined.

Workplace injuries such as repetitive strain injuries (RSI's) account for:

42%
of all lost time claims

50%
of all lost time days

These injuries are also increasingly being reported by students and others in our communities.

Each year much of Ontario's workforce sustain Repetitive Strain Injuries.

What is both troubling and a source of encouragement is knowing RSIs are preventable.

Repetitive Strain Injury Day, increases awareness of these critical, debilitating issues and serves to educate workers about the hazards and prevention methods.

PREVIOUS SESSIONS

Use the tabs below to view posts from specific years or related to specific topics:

All
2021
2022
accommodation
air quality
bursitis
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
cognitive demands
Concussion
controls
cre/msd
definition
development
Diagnosis
Driving
Ergonomics
force
Functional Abilities Exam (FAE)
gloves
hard hat
Hazard Assessment
hearing protection
industrial hygiene
Injury Prevention
insomnia
job demands
Manual Material Handling (MMH)
Mental Health
msds
muscle biomechanics
musculoskeletal disorder
nerve impingement
neurogenic
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL)
Occupational Hygiene
Office Ergonomics
Opioids
osteoarthritis
pathophysiology
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
physical demands
Physical Demands Description (PDD)
posture
Prevention
Psychosocial
Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA)
Recognition
recovery
repetition
Repetitive Strain Injury
Return-to-Work (RTW)
Risk Factors
rotator cuff
RSI Day
Second Impact Syndrome
shoulder anatomy
shoulder muscles
sleep deprivation
sleep posture
sobane
static posture
statistics
Stress
Surveys
Temperature
tendonitis
Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS)
Tools
Vibration
workplace ergonomics
Workstations

RSI Day Webinar Series 2024 Week 4

RECORDED FEBRUARY 15 (WEEK 2): Plantar Fasciitis, Physical Demand Analysis, Epicondylitis

RSI Day

Webinar Series 2024

Recognizing and Preventing Repetitive Strain Injuries at Work

2024 marked the 25th anniversary of RSI Day. OHCOW has seen this event grow from 20 registrants in a local audience to over 1850 registrants from across 53 countries. The entire RSI Day webinar series event can be viewed through the links below or on OHCOW’s YouTube channel

Be A Beta-Tester!

Dates to remember

Tools

WEEK 1

Thursday, February 8

Focus on Workers: 25 year History & Opioid Harm Reduction

Part 1: The History of RSI Day

Part 2: Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain and Opioid Misuse

Part 3: Opioid-related harms among Ontario workers

WEEK 2

Thursday February 15

Clinical Lessons on Key Musculoskeletal Disorders

Part 1: Plantar Fasciitis

Part 2: Improved and Systematic Physical Demand Analysis in the Workplace

Part 3: Epicondylitis

WEEK 3

Thursday February 22

Cost/Benefit: Understanding Financial & Psychosocial Harm

Part 1: Ergonomics Intervention Cost-Benefit Calculator

Part 2: Ontario's Cost Calculator and Related Resources

Part 3: Measuring Workplace Stress Among RSI Day Participants – 6 years later

WEEK 4

Thursday February 29

Knowledge@OHCOW: Products & Tools for Workers & Workplaces

Welcome and Introduction

Part 1: OHCOW’s Ergonomic Tools, APPs and Calculators

Part 2: Revised and Updated Office Ergo Calculator, Anthropometric Calculator, Keyboard Short Cut Tutorial, and Cold Stress Calculator

Part 3: Introducing JobAssess, a New Job Demands Analysis Tool

PREVIOUS SESSIONS

THE LENS

Recognizing and Preventing
Repetitive Strain Injuries at Work

2024 marked the 25^th anniversary of RSI Day. OHCOW has seen this event grow from 20 registrants in a local audience to over 1850 registrants from across 53 countries. The entire RSI Day webinar series event can be viewed through the links below or on OHCOW’s YouTube channel