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A stiff neck after a long day at a laptop, an aching shoulder after repeated reaching, or a sore back after lifting stock can feel like separate problems. At work, they often have something in common: the way the job places repeated physical demands on the body. When those demands continue for weeks, months or years, they can contribute to musculoskeletal disorders affecting the back, neck, shoulders, arms, wrists and lower limbs.
The scale of the problem is substantial. Health and Safety Executive figures for Great Britain estimated that 511,000 workers were living with a work-related musculoskeletal disorder in 2024/25, with 7.1 million working days lost. Those cases cover far more than heavy lifting. Screen work, repetitive hand movements, awkward reaches, fixed postures, pushing, pulling and sustained physical effort can all play a part.
If you manage people, design work or look after workplace health, ergonomics gives you a practical way to reduce those pressures. The aim is to fit the job to the person as far as reasonably practicable, then review the job when the work, equipment or worker’s needs change.
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Why strain builds up during ordinary work
Many musculoskeletal problems develop gradually. A task may feel manageable when someone performs it once. Repeating the same reach hundreds of times, holding a fixed posture for most of a shift or lifting from a poor height every day changes the level of exposure. The body gets fewer opportunities to recover, and small problems can become persistent pain or loss of movement.
You can often spot the warning signs before absence appears. Workers may stretch or rub the same area repeatedly, change how they grip an object, slow down near the end of a shift or avoid a particular movement. Complaints about discomfort matter even when nobody has reported an injury. They give you a chance to review the task while changes are still relatively simple.
Ergonomic assessment looks at what people actually do. It considers posture, force, frequency, duration, reach, working height, space, equipment and the opportunity to change position. It also takes account of individual needs where these affect how safely someone can perform the work.
Screen-based work needs a proper assessment
Office work can look low risk because the physical loads are small. A poorly arranged workstation can still expose someone to long periods of neck rotation, raised shoulders, unsupported wrists or a slumped sitting position. Hybrid working can add another variable because the employee may use a suitable office workstation on some days and a dining table or small laptop setup on others.
Under the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations, employers must assess workstations for workers who meet the definition of a DSE user, reduce identified risks, provide suitable information and training, and arrange an eye test when a DSE user asks for one. HSE guidance also makes clear that assessment software can support the process, but a trained assessor should review results, resolve doubtful points and make sure problems are corrected.
If you appoint people to review workstation assessments, a DSE assessor training course can help them understand what to look for and how to follow up on issues identified by users. Training should sit alongside a workable process for supplying equipment, escalating health concerns and reviewing assessments when a workstation or job changes.
Ergonomics should change the job, not simply describe it
An assessment only earns its value when it leads to action. If a keyboard sits too high, lowering the working position may reduce shoulder tension. If a worker repeatedly reaches across a bench, moving frequently used items closer can reduce the reach. In a packing area, changing container size or bench height may remove a large amount of bending over the course of a shift.
These adjustments are often modest. Their effect grows because workers repeat the same movements throughout the week. You should also look at work pace and recovery time. A technically acceptable posture can still become tiring when someone holds it for too long, and a light task can become demanding when the pace leaves no chance to vary movement.
Worker feedback helps here. The person doing the task usually knows where it becomes awkward, where a tool catches, which load is difficult to grip and which part of the shift creates the most fatigue. Use that knowledge as evidence rather than treating it as a complaint to be managed away.
Manual handling needs task design as well as technique
Manual handling includes lifting, lowering, carrying, pushing and pulling. UK law does not set a single safe weight limit. Employers should avoid hazardous manual handling so far as reasonably practicable, assess operations that remain, and reduce the risk of injury as far as reasonably practicable.
That order matters. A worker can use good lifting technique and still face unnecessary risk if the load is too awkward, the route is obstructed or the job requires repeated lifts from floor level. Mechanical aids, smaller loads, shorter carrying distances and better storage heights can reduce the physical demand before technique becomes the main control.
Training still has a place. It can help people recognise hazardous handling, use aids correctly and understand why a task has been designed in a particular way. If your organisation uses a manual handling training certificate as part of its training records, keep the certificate in context. Course completion can show that learning took place. The employer still needs to control the actual handling risks in the job and check that workers can apply the training safely.
Early reporting protects health and work ability
Workers sometimes stay silent about pain because they worry that reporting it will affect their job. That delay can make a manageable problem harder to address. Give people a simple route to report discomfort and make sure managers know what happens next. The response may involve a workstation change, an altered tool, temporary restrictions, occupational health advice or a review of workload.
Avoid making assumptions about age, disability, pregnancy, previous injury or fitness. Individual factors can affect how someone experiences a task, but they do not excuse poor job design. Start by reducing avoidable strain for everyone, then make further adjustments where an individual needs them.
You should also review ergonomic controls after changes to equipment, staffing, production targets or working location. A job can keep the same title while the physical demands change substantially.
Design work people can sustain
Workplace ergonomics works best when it becomes part of normal management rather than a response to an injury. Pay attention to how long people hold a posture, how often they repeat a movement, how much force they use and whether the job gives them enough recovery time. Then act on what the assessment tells you.
For workers, that can mean less pain and less fatigue at the end of a shift. For employers, it can mean fewer restrictions, fewer lost days and a workforce that can perform the job safely over the long term. The useful measure of an ergonomic programme is simple: the work should become easier to perform safely because you changed the conditions that create strain.
