Musculoskeletal Disorder
and Injury Prevention Webinar Series
.
2025 is RSI Day's 26th year! Our most popular webinar series, OHCOW has seen this event grow from 20 registrants in a local audience to over 1850 registrants from across 53 countries. See the information below and register, or you can go right to the eventbrite page.
Clinical Insights & Applying New Technology
February 7, 2025 - WEEK 1
10:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Welcome Message and Overview
Trevor Schell - Coordinator
10:15 AM - 10:45 AM
Osteoarthritis of the Carpometacarpal Joint (Thumb)
Cynthia Arnold - OHCOW Physician, Trevor Schell - OHCOW Ergonomist
CMC Joint Osteoarthritis is one of the most common forms of osteoarthritis affecting, 11% of men and 33% of women, yet the occupational risk factors are often overlooked for the development of this condition. This session examines the anatomy, causes, symptoms, diagnosis and prevention of this disorder.
10:45 AM - 11:15 AM
Osteoarthritis of the Hip
TBD - OHCOW Physician
Melissa Statham - OHCOW Ergonomist
Pravesh Jugnundan - OHCOW Physician, Melissa Statham - OHCOW Ergonomist
Osteoarthritis of the hip is one of the most common forms of osteoarthritis affecting up to 24.2% of the population. This session examines the anatomy, symptoms causes, and prevention of this disorder.
11:15 AM - 12:00 PM
Implementing Markerless Motion Capture Technology for Ergonomics Assessments
Dennis Larson - Postdoctoral Researcher
Recent advancements in computer vision technology are rapidly changing how we conduct musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) risk assessments in the field. Now with just the tap of a button on our smartphones, we can easily record videos of workplace activities that can uploaded and analyzed by computer vision tools to assess postures and movements involved in completing workplace tasks. However, computer vision may not be a one-size-fits-all solution and both researchers and companies are working to understand how to best implement and interpret results from these technologies to optimize their MSD prevention efforts. Drawing on the findings of a recent study we conducted at the University of Waterloo and other related research, we will provide evidence-based insights to guide best practices for integrating computer vision-based MSD assessment technology into workplace ergonomics and health and safety programs.
12:00 PM - 12:30 PM
Q&A
Reality Check 2025 - Hazard Mitigation
February 14 - WEEK 2
10:00 AMÂ -Â 10:15 AM
Welcome Message and Overview
Trevor Schell - Coordinator
10:15 AMÂ -Â 11:00 AM
Heat Stress Management: A new toolkit for Ontario Workplaces
André Gauvin - OHCOW Occupational Hygienist
Heat stress is a significant and year-round physical hazard in many indoor, outdoor and underground occupations that deal with either local or environmental heat sources. To make matters worse, its effects may be compounded when personal protective equipment (PPE) is involved. Climate change further compounds the issue; the increasing frequency of extreme heat days, wildfires, and poor air quality exposes outdoor workers to an ever-growing risk of negative health impacts. The impacts of heat stress are serious and is globally recognized. It is critical to address this hazard to protect employees and your business from negative health effects, lost productivity, and employee morale. This session will discuss the hazards of working in the heat, guide you through Ontario’s updated Heat Stress Toolkit, and talk about how these tools can support you in reducing risk.Â
11:00 AMÂ -Â 11:45 AM
Ergonomics and Manual Materials Handling: Enhancing Safety and Efficiency
Daryl Stephenson - OHCOW Ergonomist, Andrew Flanagan - OHCOW Ergonomist
This presentation explores the critical role of ergonomics in manual materials handling to prevent workplace injuries and improve productivity. We’ll discuss key ergonomic principles and strategies for designing tasks that minimize physical strain. Additionally, we’ll highlight how the Liberty Mutual manual material handling tables can be effectively utilized to assess risk factors in manual handling tasks. These tables offer evidence-based guidelines for identifying hazardous lifting, pushing and pulling activities, and provide valuable insights into safe weight limits. By integrating these tools with proper ergonomic practices, we can foster a safer, more efficient work environment.
11:45 AMÂ -Â 12:15 PM
Q&A
Key Topics in Occupational Ergonomics 1
February 21 - WEEK 3
10:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Welcome message and Overview
Trevor Schell - Coordinator
10:15 AM - 11:00 AM
Creating and Fostering Inclusive Work Environments to Prevent MSDs Among Older Workers
Dr Behdin Nowrouzi-Kia
This presentation will explore the definition of older workers, typically those aged 50 and above, and the unique challenges they face. It will identify the risks and hazards related to musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). Finally, it will propose solutions and strategies to prevent and mitigate against MSD. By addressing these objectives, we aim to create a safer and more supportive work environment for older workers.
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM
Comparison of REBA and RULA
David Mijatovic - OHCOW Ergonomist
Learn about the differences and similarities of these popular workplace assessment tools: Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA).  While there are commonalities, when and how they could (or should) be used varies considerably.
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM
Q & A
Key topics in Occupational Ergonomics 2
February 28 - WEEK 4
10:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Welcome Message and Overview
Trevor Schell - coordinator
10:15 AM - 11:00 AM
Visual Ergonomics: The Relationship Between Vision and Office Ergonomics
Dwayne Fuchs - OHCOW Ergonomist, Dr. Joe Valente - Optometrist
OHCOW Ergonomist Dwayne Fuchs (R.Kin.) along with Optometrist Dr. Joe Valente will discuss the relationship between vision and computer use in the office. It will include the following: Computer Monitor/Screen Ergonomics; Office Lighting and Glare; Common Visual Complaints and Conditions; Differences between Corrected and Non-corrected vision; and Recommendations for change based upon individual visual requirements.
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM
Review of the Quick Exposure Check (QEC) Reference Guide
Trevor Schell - OHCOW Ergonomist, Melissa Statham - OHCOW Ergonomist
The QEC is perhaps one of the most versatile and user friendly workplace hazard identification tools. It was designed to be quick, easy to use and not require extensive training before use. This session will cover an overview of the QEC tool and case studies demonstrating its use.
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM
Q & A
RSI Day
Webinar Series 2024
Recognizing and Preventing
Repetitive Strain Injuries at Work
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:
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
If you have questions / comments regarding RSI Day or any of the sessions from above, please contact OHCOW.