Contribution to a WHO toolkit for WMSDs prevention

Introduction
When studying WMSDs, several determinants and their interrelationship are considered as relevant. Hence the necessity of an “holistic” approach to MSD prevention, especially when preparing technical rules and strategic plans of action. There is a strong request, from OSH agencies and operators, for developing “simple” tools for risk assessment and management. Both these issues have sound ground but they are conflicting: there is a need for addressing the problem (simplify complexity). In this context WHO asked IEA and some of WHO/CC to develop a “Toolkit for WMSD prevention” to be used especially in developing countries also by non experts. The paper presents one of the main contribution to this WHO project, focused on selecting tools at different level for hazard identification, risk estimation and management.

Methods
Proposals are based on two essential criteria:
• Acting on a step-by-step approach using basic tools first and more complex tools only when necessary;
• Taking into account the presence of multiple influencing factors at every step

Results
The proposals consider:
• A Basic Step devoted to hazard identification and priority check by operative “key-enter” questions. This step can be operated also by non-experts with a limited training.
• A First Step, a “quick assessment”, addressed to identifying 3 possible conditions: acceptable/no consequence; high risk present/redesign urgently needed; a more detailed analysis (via tools presented at second step) is necessary. This step can be operated also by non-experts with only some specific training.
• A Second Step, where recognized (i.e. from international standards or guidelines) tools for risk estimation are used. These tools should adequately consider most of the influencing factors. This step can be operated only by persons with some specific training.

Discussion
Relevance of the proposal is discussed with particular focus on application in developing countries and in peculiar sectors (i.e. agriculture, etc).