Every year hundreds of thousands of workers miss work because of injury on the job. The biggest workplace safety and health problems are "ergonomic" hazards caused by heavy lifting, repetitive work and poorly designed jobs.

Ergonomic hazards cause a type of injury called musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). They are the biggest safety and health problem in the workplace today, accounting for nearly one-third of all serious job related injuries. In 1999, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 600,000 workers suffered serious workplace injuries caused by repetitive motion and overexertion. In their recent joint report on Musculoskeletal Disorders and the Workplace (January 2001), the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and Institute of Medicine (IOM) put the number of serious work-related ergonomic injuries at 1 million annually.

These injuries are serious, disabling and costly. One type of injury—carpal tunnel syndrome—results in workers losing more time from their jobs than any other type of injury, even amputations. According to the NAS report, the workers' compensation costs of these injuries is estimated at $13 to $20 billion annually; the overall costs to the economy at $45 to $50 billion. Worker protections are important to workers personally, but also to the strength of the U.S. economy.

Ergonomic injuries are a major problem across every sector of the economy. Meat packing workers, poultry workers, nurses, cashiers, assembly line workers, computer users, truck drivers, stock handlers, sewing machine operators and construction workers.

Women workers are particularly affected by these injuries. Women make up 46 percent of the overall workforce, but in 1998 accounted for 64 percent of repetitive motion injuries (42,347 out of 65,866 reported cases) and 71 percent of reported carpal tunnel syndrome cases (18,719 out of 26,266 reported cases).