Prevalence Of Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders In Fire Fighters

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Firefighters having high risk for occupational injuries, perform many hazardous job tasks at the scene of fire. The objective of this cross sectional study is to find the prevalence of self reported musculoskeletal disorders in firefighters at various Fire brigade centres in Mumbai. Method: Total number of 70 active duty firefighters ,both male and females ,were recruited in the study from various fire brigade centres in Mumbai. A validated questionnaire was administered to them consisting information about their demographics, their job profile and self reported measures of their health and co morbidities. The participants also completed a Body Diagram to indicate the location of pain for their musculoskeletal problems. Their working postures was analysed by using REBA after doing a pilot study .The three tasks were lifting the ladder up and down ,folding the hose and lifting the dummy .The data was collected and analysed. Result: The study participants comprised both male and females active duty firefighters, 59 males, mean age (27-45 years ),SD (3.5) and 11 females ,mean age (25-30 years), SD (1.6). The prevalence of neck, shoulder, elbow ,upper back and lower back complaints was 24%, 23%, 13%, 7% and 6 % respectively. 27% participants reported no complaints related to musculoskeletal problems. REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment) indicated that 40 out of 70 firefighters have medium risk of cumulative trauma disorders while 30 have high risk in the task of lifting the ladder up and down on shoulders. For folding the hose, all 70 participants had medium risk of injuries and for lifting the dummy, 29 out of 70 had high risk and 41 firefighters had very high risk of musculoskeletal injuries. Conclusion- This study reveals that there is high prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries especially in neck and shoulder among firefighters at various fire brigade centres in Mumbai .REBA assessment for the risk analysis for cumulative trauma disorders shows medium to high risk in all three tasks of lifting the ladder, folding the hose and lifting the dummy which warrants immediate preventive measures and remedial treatment among the study population.