Developing an Ontario strategy to prevent MSDs due to manual materials handling: Lessons learned from Australia

Institute for Work & Health
481 University Avenue, Suite 800
Toronto, Ontario

Jean Mangharam
WorkSafe, Western Australia

The Centre of Research Expertise for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders (CRE-MSD) is holding a discussion forum on Monday, June 27 on the development of an Ontario manual materials handling (MMH) program to prevent musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The forum is being organized in response to Ontario’s focus on high-impact claims and CRE-MSD's wish to be involved in the next version of Ontario's MSD strategy. The forum will include speakers from British Columbia, United States, United Kingdom and Australia, who will talk about efforts in their own jurisdictiosn to protect workers from injury related to MMH.

Jean Mangharam, principal scientific officer/inspector of the Human Factors & Ergonomics Team at WorkSafe in Western Australia, is one of the speakers at the CRE-MSD discussion forum. At this plenary, which takes place the day after the forum, she will talk about Western Australia's experiences with the design, dissemination, workplace implementation and evaluation of a guidance on MMH, and the responses it received from workplace parties during the process. She will also give her impressions of the discussion forum and describe how the Australian experience can relate to the development of an Ontario strategy to prevent MSDs due to MMH.

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About IWH Speaker Series

The IWH Speaker Series brings you the latest findings from work and health researchers from the Institute for Work & Health (IWH) and beyond. For those unable to attend, the recorded webinar of most presentations in the IWH Speaker Series are made available on its web page within a week of the event.