Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) e.g. sprains and strains, make up a staggering 70% of ACC claims each year in the scaffolding industry. In 2020 almost 40,000 days of work were lost which equates to around 2 million tonnes of system scaffold not being erected!

In direct response the industry has formed New Zealand’s first Scaffolding MSD Task Force. Spearheaded by SARNZ Board members Vadim Spice and David Sopp, the task force also includes Chris Polaczuk from CHASNZ and a host of industry experts.

The group is developing an industry wide prevention and management programme, aptly named Work Should Not Hurt, that can be shared with other sectors of the construction industry. This recognizes a shared workforce, shared worksites and similar contributory factors to these problems.

The task force’s mission statement is:
To improve the musculoskeletal wellbeing and productivity of the construction/scaffolding workforce through industry collaboration, establishing best practice and using innovation.

One of the first things the industry will look at is the current advice for new building techniques and handling new scaffolding systems that now dominate the industry.

Vadim Spice adds, ‘’The changing of equipment has dominated our industry without letting us develop our work organisation strategies and handling techniques. The traditional methods and systems don’t really apply anymore. This is a key issue and contributes to the frequency and severity of incidents.”

Scaffolding is one of the more physically demanding trades of the construction industry but the Task Force realises it needs to also focus on less understood contributory factors such as how we plan and organise our work or workplace relationships and communication - what we call the psychosocial factors.

Other MSDs taskforce projects include:

• Developing a simple prevention programme for small and larger Scaffolding businesses
• Promoting the early reporting of pain and discomfort to prevent long term problems
• Creating guidance on the use of handling tools to reduce the amount of risky manual handling
• Designing ways to reduce the amount of risky overhead work
• Researching ways to prevent injury in the planning and quoting phase, yard layout and truck design
• Trialing equipment to assist in the vertical and horizontal movement of gear.

The Task Force welcomes all input from the industry and would like to hear ideas and suggestions to improve the prevention and management of MSDs.

“If you are out there in the scaffolding world and doing something to prevent and manage discomfort, pain or injury in your workforce or just want to be involved or informed then we would love to hear from you”, says David Sopp.

The Scaffolding MSD Task Force is in partnership with CHASNZ.