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Published in:
2019 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders and Posture Assessment by QEC and Inter-rater Agreement in This Method in an Automobile Assembly Factory: Iran-2016
Authors : Akram Sadat Jafari Roodbandi, Forough Ekhlaspour, Maryam Naseri Takaloo, Samira Farokhipour
Published in: Proceedings of the 20th Congress of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA 2018)
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
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Abstract
Background: Workers in the automotive industry due to the nature of the jobs are prone to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). The aim of this study was evaluating the prevalence of MSDs and inter-rater agreement in posture assessment with QEC method.
Methods: In a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical in an automobile assembly plant in the Bam city in 2016, 148 people have completed MSDs Nordic questionnaire with census method sampling. Posture analysis was performed using the QEC. Two evaluators had experience of assessment in similar jobs at least 50 times before carrying out the assessment in this study. They independently evaluated 31 job tasks that were the worst posture in each task. SPSS software was used for statistical analysis with a significance level of 0.05.
Results: 88.6% of the subjects were married and they were in range age of 21 to 42 years. More prevalent have been in waist 78.3% (n = 90), wrist/hand 59.5% (n = 66), shank/feet 57.7% (n = 64), Shoulder 56.1% (n = 60), knee 55.1% (n = 59), upper back 46.2% (n = 49), neck 39.9% (n = 59), forearm 17.9% (n = 19) and thighs 13.8% (n = 13) during the last 12 months.
The incidence of MSDs of the neck and upper back were significantly associated with weight in the last 12 months. Neck disorder was the statistically significant correlation with the height.
Pearson correlation test shows quantitative evaluation score with QEC method in both evaluators was highly correlated and acceptable (r = 0.91). The maximum difference score between two evaluators in posture assessment was 22 which was 12% of maximum total score in the QEC method.
Conclusion: The high prevalence of MSDs was consistent with the high score in the QEC method. Ergonomic interventions are essential to improve the ergonomic status of the car assembly plant.