Musculoskeletal disorders preventive training: do hospitality students apply what they learn?

This article examines students’ perceptions towards musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) preventive training in their hospitality education in Malaysia. The findings suggest that the majority considered this aspect of their occupational health and safety training to be relevant in the workplace. However, many students knowingly neglected the preventive measures while working as interns. Further, the majority of students did not know the appropriate channel of recompense in the event that they sustain work-related injuries. This suggests that the occupational health and safety training that the students received has not equipped them with practical knowledge on how to seek compensation for work-related injuries. The challenges in terms of curriculum design are two-fold: how to devise occupational health and safety training that is useful to students; and how to increase safety consciousness among students, and therefore encourage them to take safety precautions at work.