Associations of psychosocial work characteristics and ergonomic hazards with the risk of musculoskeletal disorders in male and female workers

• Main Authors: Chun-Yen Lin, 林均宴
• Other Authors: Ya-wen Cheng
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/29947638621538134171

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 健康政策與管理研究所 === 101 === Work-related musculoskeletal discomfort is a common health problem, and has showed an increasing trend. Musculoskeletal discomfort not only results in reduced quality of life of individual worker, but may also cause substantial economic losses of the whole socieity. Factors that contribute to the risk of musculoskeletal discomfort include traditional ergonomics hazards such as repetitive motion, prolonged static posture or unnatural posture, carrying heavy loads, vibration, etc.. In addition, psychosocial hazards at work also play an important role. Accumulating studies from other countries confirmed that musculoskeletal discomfort was associated with adverse psychosocial work characteristics. However, research conducted in Taiwan mainly focused on traditional ergonomic factors; few studies have been conducted to explore the association between psychosocial work characteristics and the risk of musculoskeletal discomfort. Previous studies showed that female workers have a higher risk for musculoskeletal discomfort than male workers. However, few studies explore the impacts of work conditions on health from a gender perspective. Furthermore, the interaction of psychosocial characteristics at work and ergonomics hazards and their synergistic effects on musculoskeletal discomfort has not been well clarified. We anticipate that prevention strategies that take into account of both psychosocial risk factors and ergonomics hazards may be more effective in reducing the risk of musculoskeletal discomfort and improving workers'' health status and quality of life. Study participants were from a survey conducted in 2007 by the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health of the Council of Labor Affairs. There were two research themes in this study: the first part was explored if there was difference in the prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort between male and female workers; the second part focused on the synergistic effects of psychosocial factors and ergonomics hazards at work on the risk of musculoskeletal discomfort. It was found that musculoskeletal disorders were more prevalent in workers with lower education level, workers with lower occupational grades, workers with longer work tenure, workers on insure employment and workers with higher psychological work demands, lower workplace justice and higher level of job insecurity. The combination of adverse psychosocial work conditions and higher levels of ergonomic hazards contributed to higher risk of musculoskeletal discomfort, confirming the hypothesis of synergistic effect. The risk factors mentioned above explain partially the risk of musculoskeletal discomfort. Good occupational health and safety strategies should aim to improve the working conditions of workers, focusing on the aspect of prevention to protect workers from injuries in the workplace. More importantly, to both ergonomic and psychosocial work characteristics should be targeted in order to effectively reduce the occurrence of musculoskeletal discomforts in the workplace.