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Welcome to the new website

Our website has been recently redeveloped to provide a better user experience, and make it easier to access the resources you're looking for. Please take our short website feedback survey.

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What's new?

Watch for new content, including resources, case studies, videos, and events. We depend on companies and practitioners to share case studies of MSD prevention interventions. Please contact us if you have a case study that would be helpful to share with others to prevent MSD!

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New video: what is an MSD?

Enhance your safety efforts and help your employees learn about the causes, symptoms, signs, and steps to prevent MSDs by watching this YouTube video.

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MSD Prevention Guideline for Ontario

About Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD) Prevention

Two mannequins, one with pain in their back and another with pain in their shoulder

You may be a worker looking for information on low back pain or carpal tunnel syndrome or an organization looking to prevent musculoskeletal disorders.

We have created ways for different groups and people to get more quickly to content that is most useful to them.

Every organization is different. To cater to the range of knowledge and resources in health and safety and ergonomics, we have created three parallel collections of resources for prevention of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), Quick Start, Basic and Comprehensive Guidelines.

Learn more about the MSD prevention guidelines

Don't know how to get started?

Our guideline selector will ask you a few questions to help determine which guideline will be the best fit for your organization. Each guideline follows the same structure, making it easy to switch between them as needed.

Get Started Now

Understanding MSD

Musculoskeletal Disorders (or MSD) is an umbrella term for a number of injuries and disorders of the soft tissues of the body, including muscles, ligaments, tendons, and nerves. Many body areas can be affected. The lower back is the most commonly affected, followed by the shoulders, neck, elbow, hands, and wrists. Other terms with the same meaning as MSD include:

Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)
Cumulative Trauma Disorder (CTD)
Musculoskeletal Injury (MSK or MSI), and/or
Occupational Overuse Syndrome (OOS)

Learn more about MSD

Discover

woman sitting on an office chair with her hands on her low back to indicate pain

MSD Hazards in the Workplace

We all suffer occasional pain and discomfort, but work shouldn't hurt. There is strong and consistent evidence that physical factors in the workplace and how work is organized can greatly increase a person's chance of developing an MSD. Work can also aggravate an existing injury and hinder the return to work process.

RACE diagram showing the recognize, assess, control, evaluate cycle with MSD prevention in the middle

Recognize-Assess-Control-Evaluate (RACE)

The RACE process involves MSD hazard identification, risk assessment methods and other approaches to prevent MSD. The RACE process is referenced in all versions of MSD Prevention Guidelines.

Two people sharing ideas and stories using books

Case Studies and Stories

Share your success stories with us! With worker's health & safety in mind, let's get together and share successful interventions that can benefit everyone. Whether you are a part of a company, a professional in the field, or a student completing a project or placement, we are looking for case studies to showcase.

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Ontario Ergonomics Intervention Cost-Benefit Calculator

Need a resource to help estimate the return on investment (ROI) of proposed solutions to improve ergonomics and prevent MSD in the workplace? Try our new Ontario-based ergonomics calculator.