Occupational Safety & Health · Hazards

Ergonomics and musculoskeletal disorders

The most common work-related health problem in Europe — back pain, upper-limb disorders, manual handling — and what the two EU directives Georgia transposed require.

Last updated: 3 October 2026

Framework Data Hazards Sectors People Health workers Hub

Overview

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) — back pain, neck and upper-limb disorders, joint injuries — are the most common work-related health problem in Europe: about three in five EU workers report MSD complaints, and 60% of workers with a work-related health problem name an MSD as the most serious (EU-OSHA). Ergonomic risk factors are among those quantified in the WHO/ILO Joint Estimates. Georgia transposed the two EU directives on manual handling and display-screen work in 2022–2023, so the legal basis exists; compliance and outcomes are not measured.

Key figures

3 in 5

EU workers reporting musculoskeletal complaints

EU-OSHA, European Working Conditions Survey

65% · 61% · 52%

EU establishments reporting repetitive movements, prolonged sitting, and lifting or moving loads or people as risk factors

EU-OSHA, ESENER 2019

2

EU ergonomics directives transposed by Georgia (manual handling; display screen equipment), 2022–2023

ETF–Eurofound (2024)

No. 127

ILO Maximum Weight Convention, 1967 — not ratified by Georgia

ILO NORMLEX

Risk factors and sectors


Risk factor	Where in Georgia
Lifting and moving loads or people	Construction, warehousing and logistics, health care (patient handling), agriculture
Repetitive hand and arm movements	Manufacturing, food processing, textiles, call centres
Prolonged sitting and display-screen work	Offices, public administration, IT, remote work
Tiring or painful postures	Construction, agriculture, cleaning, health care
Vibration	Mining, construction, transport

Risk-factor categories from ESENER 2019 (EU-OSHA); sector attribution is GILS's, based on the nature of the work.

Standards


Instrument	Content	Georgia
EU Directive 90/269/EEC (manual handling of loads)	Avoid manual handling where possible; assess and reduce risk; training	Transposed 2022–2023
EU Directive 90/270/EEC (display screen equipment)	Workstation requirements, breaks, eye tests	Transposed 2022–2023
ILO Convention No. 127 (1967)	Maximum weight of loads carried by one worker	Not ratified
ISO 11228 series	Ergonomics — manual handling	Voluntary standard

Public health perspective (WHO)

WHO counts low back pain as the leading cause of disability worldwide and treats MSDs as a major non-communicable condition; in the Joint Estimates, ergonomic risk factors at work are a quantified contributor. MSDs rarely kill but drive sickness absence, disability and early retirement, which places them in the health system's rehabilitation and social protection budgets — costs that Georgia does not currently attribute to work. Workers' health: the public health perspective.

Data gaps

No Georgian data on work-related MSDs, sickness absence by cause or disability claims attributable to work.
Compliance with the two transposed directives is not reported by the Labour Inspection Service in published sources.
The GILS 2027 health-worker survey will include patient-handling and MSD questions.

Sources

EU-OSHA. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders: what is the issue? healthy-workplaces.osha.europa.eu
ETF–Eurofound (2024). Working life in Georgia. www.etf.europa.eu
WHO and ILO (2021). Almost 2 million people die from work-related causes each year. www.who.int
ILO. Safety and health at work — risk-specific instruments. www.ilo.org

Figures are from the GILS Evidence Register and the official sources shown. GILS is independent of government, trade unions, employers' organisations and the ILO.