ERGONOMIC RISK FACTORS AND MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS (PREVALENCE & COST) AMONG WORKERS IN A MULTINATIONAL CAR ASSEMBLY PLANT, EGYPT | ||||
| Egyptian Journal of Occupational Medicine | ||||
| Article 5, Volume 31, Issue 2, July 2007, Page 259-279 PDF (100.46 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Study paper | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/ejom.2007.629 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Author | ||||
| Alazab M. | ||||
| Public health and Industrial medicine Department, Faculty of medicine, Alazhar Uiversity, Cairo, Egypt | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| Objectives: to define the magnitude of the ergonomic stressors related to neck and trunk posture, energy expenditure and upper extremity among workers in the studied plant, to find out the incidence rate of work injuries resulted from ergonomic causes among the studied workers and to find out the prevalence rate and cost of musculoskeletal disorders among the studied workers. Subjects & Methods: this study was conducted inside a multinational factory in Egypt for car assembly. 553 workers were included in the study. All workers were subjected to checklists to monitor the different ergonomic stressors during their daily work. Environmental measures were conducted through coordination with National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Egypt. Data about distribution and cost of MSDs were obtained from the medical recording system inside the medical department of the factory.Results: noise, ultraviolet rays, vibration and carbon monoxide in body shop while heat and thinner in paint shop were above the permissible level. 21.7%, 3.2% and 27.6% of workers were standing stationary, kneeling and knee bent respectively.Trunk posture revealed that 43.1%, 11.8% and 49.2% of workers were doing forward bending, backward bending and lateral bending respectively. Neck posture revealed that 29.7%, 13.8% and 17.2% of workers were doing forward bending, backwardconsebendingand lateral bending respectively. About 11% were doing sit/stand position.Energy expenditure assessment revealed that; 12.1 of workers in their jobs need to walk more than 30m2/M while carrying weights. Upper extremity stressors revealed that 36.7% were doing repetitive work, 14.2%, 7.1% and 13.5% were gripping on objectwith slippery surface, tip of a finger used for pressing and gloves hinder the grip respectively. 11.3% and 5.1% of workers were pushing or pulling objects weight >300gm by one hand repeatedly and hold repeatedly an object which weighs more than 200gm in one hand respectively. 7.4% and 15.6% were using pinch grip and using rotating motion of the forearm respectively. 3.9% were exposed repeatedly to vibrating tools. It was found that; incidence rate of work injuries/100 workers/one year was (1.2) and the prevalence rate of MSDs was (23.7%). About 43% of the ergonomic core requirements were fully implemented inside the studied plant. It was estimated that the cost of MSDs/person/year 2006 was about 7300 L.E.(1281$). Conclusion:MSDs of neck was strongly associated with combined neck ergonomic stressors. Hand/Arm pain was strongly associated with repetitiveness and pushing forces. Lumbosacral disorders were strongly associated with combined trunk ergonomic stressors. The prevalence rate of MSDs was 23.7% and cost of MSDs/ person/ year 2006 was about 7300 L.E. (1281$). | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| missed | ||||
|
Statistics Article View: 317 PDF Download: 1,401 |
||||
