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800-ARM-01-IMOT © 2019, Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS)
1 877 494 WSPS (9777) | 905 614 1400 | wsps.ca
Do you consider gender differences when designing your workplace? It's important to recognize
and understand that there are a range of needs in your place of work.
"Research on how working conditions affect our health has typically focused on men. The
few studies on women focus on more stereotypical or traditional sectors, such as health care,
hospitality and textiles," says WSPS Consultant Sarah Hobbs. "But these days, women represent
almost half of the Canadian workforce and work in all industry sectors."
Claims statistics indicate that men typically report injuries in their low backs, whereas women
predominantly report injuries in their upper bodies, including necks, shoulders, and wrists. This is
partially due to differences in anatomy and stature, as well as traditional workplace roles (e.g., more
physical work for men, and more computer work for women). However, we're starting to see less
traditional gender roles across all workplaces, with men and women completing similar tasks.
Sarah offers 10 gender-neutral best practices for reducing the risks of MSDs.
1. Review your data for injury trends. Try to find connections between gender, location/task and
injury. Do you see different injury rates among men and women doing the same job? Injury
hotspots? Do you have more women working in one location versus men in another?
2. Make multi-user workstations as adjustable as possible. Height is a key consideration, so
make sure people can work at the optimum height.
3. Include MSDs during monthly inspections. Look for changes workers have made to their
workstation. These homemade remedies – a monitor stacked on books, duct tape blunting the
corner of a desk, a milk crate to stand on – are tell-tale signs that something's not right.
4. Watch employees for a couple of minutes to get a sense of the repetition involved in the task.
How neutral is the required posture? How far does the worker have to reach? How high?
How low? Are they lifting or moving heavy items? Are they showing any physical discomfort
when performing the task? Ask the workers for input and use our downloadable MSD hazard
checklist to assess force, posture, and repetition factors.
5. Rotate people through tasks or jobs so they're not performing the same movements all the
time. It's important to use a range of muscle groups.
6. Provide breaks. For repetitive tasks such as keyboarding, the Ministry of Labour recommends
five-minute micro breaks every hour.
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How Gender Can Impact Your MSD Risk
WSPS.CA
