Influencing factors of lower back/waist work-related musculoskeletal disorders among workers in a shipyard / 中国职业医学

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence and influencing factors of work-related musculoskeletal disorders(WMSDs) among workers in a shipyard. METHODS: A total of 496 workers in a large shipyard in Guangdong Province were selected as research subjects using the convenient sampling method. The Questionnaire of Musculoskeletal Disorders was used to investigate the prevalence of WMSDs in various regions of the body in the past year.Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the potential influencing factors of WMSDs in the frequently affected body parts. RESULTS: The prevalence of WMSDs was 70.2%(348/496). The prevalence rates of WMSDs in different body regions were lower back/waist(43.1%), neck(29.4%), shoulder(29.0%), hand/wrist(25.4%), knee(22.4%), hip/leg(14.3%), ankle/foot(12.1%), upper back(11.3%) and elbow(9.3%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis results showed that increased risk of lower back/waist WMSDs occurred in workers who carry heavy objects>5.0 kg, who work in uncomfortable positions, who repeatedly perform the same work every day, and who repeatedly perform the same action using the lower limbs and ankles(P<0.05). Employees working ≤8 hours or more than 8 hours per day had higher risk of developing lower back/waist WMSDs compared with workers working 8-10 hours per day(P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of WMSDs among workers in the shipyard is high.The lower back/waist WMSD is the most common one. The influencing factors include work organization and adverse ergonomic factors.