Australian expert calls for inquiry into R.S.I.

Press, 29 January 1986, Page 21

Australian expert calls for inquiry into R.S.I.

NZPA-AAP Adelaide An Australian ergonomics expert has called for an inquiry to settle controversy surrounding repetition strain injury. The Australian Ergonomics Society’s president, Dr Michael Patkin, said that the row over whether R.S.I. was a physical or mental complaint was hindering the control of the disease. He said that apart from the human costs, R.S.I. could cost SAustl billion in the next year as compensation payments escalated and productivity suffered.

“In spite of the large number of Federal and state Government com-

mittees of inquiry to solve the problem, the physicalmental argument had not been studied adequately, and was the main stumbling block to further progress, he said. Dr Patkin said a special inquiry, similar to Professor David Penington’s committee on A.I.D.S. in Australia, should be established to resolve the issue. “Just as the Penington committee has cleared up much of the panic and misinformation about A.I.D.S. in a short time, there is urgent need for a similar authority to carry out an unbiased assessment of the conflicting medical information surrounding R. 5.1.,” he said.

“The main issue now is a fight between those who believe the condition is all physical and those who say it’s all mental.

“I think the inquiry will prove that everybody is right — that there is a problem whichever way you look at it.”

Doctor Patkin said that in many cases ergonomists were being asked to solve problems which were medical or industrial.

He said difficult medical questions were being decided by people without the right training or knowledge to evaluate them.