Biomechanical demands such as repetitive hand or arm movements, lifting heavy loads or working in awkward postures contribute to the development or worsening of inflammatory or degenerative musculoskeletal disorders. However, little is known about patterns of exposure to different biomechanical demands and how they relate to the demographic and employment characteristics of Australian workers.

To address this, in 2008 the National Hazard Exposure Worker Surveillance [NHEWS] survey collected information on 4500 Australian workers’ exposure to nine biomechanical demands, pain and fatigue symptoms and the provision of various risk controls.

The reporting of pain and fatigue symptoms was highly related to the level of biomechanical demand exposure. Workplace size (number of workers at a site) and the overall level of biomechanical demand exposure were the best predictors of control provision: workers from large workplaces and those with high exposure were most likely to be provided with biomechanical demand controls. This report presents detailed findings of the NHEWS survey and discusses the implications of these findings for work health and safety policy.