[An ergonomic and work physiology assessment of the risk factors for the musculoskeletal system in jobs performed by women].

Abstract

The purpose of the present work is to study the relation between the characteristics of the work activity and especially the parameters of the working posture and work place as well as the complaints of the musculoskeletal system (MSS) among professions where women are mainly engaged. The object of the study were 3 professional group: 1st group--telephone operators on video display (VD), IInd group--hairdressers and IIIrd group--television (TV) tuners. For the investigation was used inquiry-questionnaire for MSS complaints, which includes localization and type of the complaints, subjective evaluation of the working posture, organization and arranging the working place. A 3-step scale was used for each of the observed indices. The results point out, that the frequency of MSS complaints is very high in the examined professions. The complaints of the telephone operators on VD concern mainly the neck [66% of the examined], the shoulders and back [respectively 58% and 50%]; of the hairdressers--the shoulders and back [85% and 80%] and the legs [75%]; of the TV tuners--the fingers of the hand [60%], neck and shoulders [43% and 40%]. The MSS complaints are in positive correlation to the age and length of service of the workers [from 0.75 to 0.91]. The expert ergonomic evaluation shows that for the three examined professions, the working posture is the determining factor for MSS complaints. For hairdressers and TV tuners are the same degrees, followed by the telephone operators on VD. In the organization of the working place there are numerous ergonomic discrepancies: for the telephone operators the most considerable deviations of the ergonomic requirements are in the dimensions of the working places: for the hairdressers and TV tuners--in the dimensions of the working zones and the arrangement of the working place. A statistically positive correlation dependence was received between MSS complaints and the working posture for the three professional groups (r from 0.85 to 0.89) and between the complaints and the ergonomic discrepancies of the working place (r between 0.75 and 0.85).