Workplace evaluation of online procedures to manage risk of both musculoskeletal and stress-related mental health disorders.

Intervention sites will implement the toolkit in their workplace. The toolkit implementation is a 12 month cycle of identifying hazards and developing actions to address hazards. This will be part of their normal occupational health and safety management system. The research team will be attending the monthly RMT meetings and maintain regular contact with the intervention sites to ensure implementation progresses smoothly. The toolkit was designed to enable comprehensive diagnosis of the unique musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) hazard profiles of different jobs, based on results from a survey covering both physical and psychosocial hazards and an MSD risk indicator. Workers participate in developing risk control actions that are customised to their job’s specific hazard profile and that accord with the risk control hierarchy, following online guidance. To promote its uptake and sustainable use in ordinary workplaces, the toolkit was formulated in accord with a framework developed by the World Health Organisation and follows implementation science principles as summarised in the Quality Implementation Framework. For further details see www.aphirm.org.au. As part of the toolkit implementation, workplaces establish a Risk Management Team (RMT) to oversee implementation. The RMT oversees the implementation of the toolkit in a designated workgroup (20-30 workers x 3 workgroups) and consists of managers, supervisors and workers in the designated workgroup. They will meet monthly for approximately 1 hour, with an additional meeting required during the 'create action plan' stage. They are guided by the toolkit’s interactive online procedures through the following steps, repeating this cycle annually: 1. Hazard identification (anonymous online survey of workers to quantify MSD risk level in terms of a validated discomfort/ pain score, stress measure, and the self-reported incidence of any absence from work due to MSD pain, as well as severity of each of a comprehensive set of work-related physical and psychosocial hazards). The online survey takes approximately 15mins and occurs within the first few weeks of toolkit implementation. The toolkit automatically determines the top 10 hazards. 2. Identification of causes and solutions for each of the top 10 hazards (a second online survey completed by workers - taking approx. 15 mins). This will occur approximately 2 weeks after the first survey - timing will be dependant on operation/production demands within the participating business. 3. Action plan drafted by RMT, based on step 2. The RMT will need to meet twice, (1.5hrs per meeting) to complete this step. The drafting of the action plan will commence within two weeks of receiving the second survey responses however, the timing of the RMT meeting will depend on demands and staff availability within participating businesses. Examples of actions to be implemented include staffing changes, the introduction of new equipment, changes to rostering systems. It is expected the implementation of the action plan will occur within 8 weeks following the collection of data from the identification of causes/solutions survey. 4. Monitor and evaluate resultant actions and changes through ongoing monthly meetings & communication with designated workgroup. Workers will complete an online survey (review feedback survey) at the end of the 12 month cycle to provide feedback on the helpfulness of each action (10 mins). 5. Evaluate outcomes, based primarily on a comparison of initially measured MSD risk and hazard profiles with those measured 12 months after implementation of the toolkit. At the end of the 12-month cycle, workers complete the online hazard survey so that a comparison can be made to the initial survey results. This is a separate survey from the online review feedback survey.