Work-related musculoskeletal disorders in workers

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders in workers OBJECTIVE:In our study, we aimed to investigate the frequency of work-related musculoskeletal disorders and risk factors in adult employees. Relationships between the demographic features, physical and psychosocial conditions at working place and work-related musculoskeletal systeam disorders have been investigated. Effect of WRMSD( work-related musculoskeletal system disorders) on life quality will also be studied. METHODS:250 people who has white-collar and blue-collar that works at a refrigerator factory in Manisa Industrial Site and are above 18 years old, who works with morning-night job rotation and has interleave working area. Demographic features, additional disease informations(comorbidity), working conditions(work time, time spent at workplace and job) of employees that are included in study have been questioned. Standardized Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire has been performed to search the WRMSD presence and body area distribution of the employees. Turkish translation of the Quick Exposure Check (QEC) has been used to measure the physical risk level of employees exposure and Swedish Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire has been performed to measure the psychosocial risk factors. Life quality of the employees has been assessed by SF-36(short from 36). They will be filled by a doctor who joined the study and those who joined the questionnaire. Data from the questionnaire study was saved and investigated in SPSS (statistical package for social science) 15 program. RESULTS:208 of the employees (%83) were blue-collared and 42 (%17) were white-collared. %85 of the employees were male and %15 were female. In our study WRMSD frequency was found as %72(178 persons). The most affected 96 area was lumbar area(%20). It is followed by neck(%17) and shoulder(%12) areas. There was no difference of WRMSD frequencies between blue-collared and white-collared groups(p:0.971). WRMSD frequency was getting higher as the time spent in job(Year)(p:0.0000), age(p:0.000), presence of additional disease information(comorbidity)(p:0.026), smoking(box/year)(p:0.007), BMI(o:0.026), work stress(0.000) and workload (0.002) got higher. There was and inverse proportion between work control(p:0.007), educational level(p:0.001), regular exercise(p:0.017) and WRMSD. As for the QEC, most of the exposures on body areas were high or very-high. When the moderate and above exposure levels are determined as risk levels in QEC, a relationship between body area complaints and exposure levels were found, excluding the neck. In Nordic Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire assessment, work stress is found as a factor of neck pain(p:0.005). As the educational level went high, the number of doctor consultation were getting lower(p0.016). It is determined that white-collared persons received more reports compared to white-collared persons(0.012), and most of them were short-term(1-7 days). The main reason of the reports were found as spine and should pain. Physical component scores(FCS)(p:0.000) and Mental Component Scores(MCS)(p:0.016) of people who has pain were found significantly low. In our study, the working area(p:0.971), gender(p:0.874), smoking history(p:0.052), vibration(p:0320) and forlift usage(p:0.081) and WRMSD relation were not found. CONCLUSİON:WRMSD frequency was %72.1 and significantly high at workplace that exposure was accepted as moderate risk factor in respect to work health and security but in respect to QEC high and very high. In our study, the spine complaints(expecially lumbar and neck) of the employees were at forefront as essential musculoskeletal problem. In this study personal, a significant relationship between physical, psychosocial risk factors and WRMSD was found. All risk factors that may lead to WRMSD should be investigated and exposure levels should be determined and protective measures should be taken. 97 KEYWORDS: work health, work-related musculoskeletal system disorders, quick exposure check, nordic demand-control-support questionnaire, short form-36, ergonomy, working area, white appliances