Assessing Exposure to Risk Factors for Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders Using ART method in a Manufacturing Company

Background & Aims of the Study: Musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) is one of the most serious consequences of improper posture or work-related strain with Symptoms of pain in one or more regions of the body. Repeated long-term work-related load can be considered as the main cause of ULWMSDs. This study was aimed to do ergonomic assessment in a manufacturing company in Kashan city using ART as a new method (this method was established in 2007) in 2014-2015.&nbsp; Materials and Methods: In a cross-sectional study, total workers of a manufacturing factory (240), by the randomized sampling procedure were selected. Demographic and work related data were collected into the check list. Data about musculoskeletal disorders were provided from body map questionnaire (BM) and ART method worksheets. Statistical analyses were used to data analysis by SPSS V20. Results: Data analysis from BM illustrated that %85.8 of workers claimed work related pain in one of their body limbs at least. There was a significant relation between pain position numbers and gender of workers (p<0.05). The total exposure score based on the ART method equals to 30.07&plusmn;12.43. Art scores revealed that 74.6% of tasks were in the high level of risk. Conclusion: Despite participants had low mean of age and work history, the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was high and the relationship between the ART score and the prevalence rates of disorders showed that the risk of these disorders was higher in people with musculoskeletal disorders than people without these disorders. The findings from this study suggest that management needs to identify, assess and control the most relevant WMSD risk factors for a particular job, accurately.