A multicomponent quasi-experimental ergonomic interventional study: long-term parallel four-groups interventions

Abstract

Background Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are known as one of the main problems affecting the health of industrial workers and can lead to lost working days, functional disability of workers and wasting the financial resources of an organization. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluating the effect of ergonomic interventions on reducing MSDs and improving working posture in the in a foundry industry workers. Methods A field multicomponent cross-interventional study was conducted on workers working in a foundry industry. In this study, 117 male workers were divided into 4 groups, including a control group, a group with specialized ergonomics training, a group with workstation intervention, and a group simultaneously undergoing training and workstation intervention. All 4 groups were evaluated during a period of baseline, 6 and 12-months follow- up. The Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (CMDQ) and direct observations of working postures by using the Quick Exposure Check (QEC) method were used. Results The results showed that the implemented interventions in the shoulder/arm, back and stress level were effective and the difference in the final score was significant among different groups (P-value > 0.05). In addition, the interventions led to a significant decrease in the QEC scores and musculoskeletal symptom scores in the neck, shoulder, lower back, knee, and lower leg regions among different groups (P-value > 0.05). Conclusion The results showed that workstation modification and training and workstation intervention simultaneously had a greater effect on MSDs and improving working posture compared to training alone.

Ergonomic Intervention Practice at the Workplace in Asian boundary: A systematic review

“…Findings from the synthesis analysis indicated that ergonomic interventions have been frequently employed in Asian countries via three distinct approaches: device or tool-based interventions, administrative interventions, and a combination of both. As shown in Table 4, seven articles explored the utilization of devices or tools as a means of ergonomic intervention (Alipour et al, 2021;Antwi-Afari et al, 2021;Arunkumar et al, 2019;Darliana et al, 2020;Kong et al, 2023;Mohammad Yusof et al, 2021;Ramdan & Candra, 2021), seven articles focused on the use of administration (Alghadir et al, 2021;Anshasi et al, 2022;Dhole et al, 2021;Heidarimoghadam et Hijam et al, 2020;Lin et al, 2022;Rahman et al, 2019), and eight articles used a combination of both approaches (Esmaeili et al, 2023;Kee, 2022;Motamedzadeh et al, 2021;Rostami et al, 2022;So et al, 2019;Susihono & Adiatmika, 2021;Susihono & Gede, 2020;Yang et al, 2021).…”

“…Nonetheless, several scholarly articles have underscored the importance of periodic follow-up assessments to ensure their efficiency and sustainability (Esmaeili et al, 2023;Heidarimoghadam et al, 2020;Lin et al, 2022;Ramdan & Candra, 2021;Susihono & Adiatmika, 2021;Susihono & Gede, 2020;Yang et al, 2021). In terms of sample size or participant selection, certain articles employed mathematical formula to ascertain sample size (Dhole et al, 2021;Heidarimoghadam et al, 2020;Hijam et al, 2020;Lin et al, 2022;Mohammad Yusof et al, 2021;Rostami et al, 2022;So et al, 2019) while others either utilized the inclusion and exclusion criteria (Alghadir et al, 2021;Alipour et al, 2021;Antwi-Afari et al, 2021;Esmaeili et al, 2023;Kee, 2022;Kong et al, 2023;Motamedzadeh et al, 2021;Rahman et al, 2019;Ramdan & Candra, 2021;Susihono & Adiatmika, 2021;Susihono & Gede, 2020;Yang et al, 2021) or did not explicitly specify their sampling approach (Anshasi et al, 2022;Arunkumar et al, 2019;Darliana et al, 2020). Further analysis of the years of publication showed that a total of nine articles were published in 2021, which was the highest between 2018 to 2023.…”

“…Past studies showed that WRMSDs have been a prominent cause of discomfort and stages of pain among workers in various industries such as manufacturing, agriculture, medical centers, banks, and offices (Esmaeili et al, 2023). Some work tasks can highly affect the neck (Anshasi et al, 2022), shoulder (Gurnani et al, 2022, back (Wan-Nor-Asyikeen et al, 2022), upper extremities (Kong et al, 2023), and lower extremities (Sain & Meena, 2019) areas of the body, subsequently contributing to WRMSDs.…”

“…The severity of WRMSDs can vary from mild discomfort to significant disability (Ijaz et al, 2020) and can be accounted to several factors, like specific type of disorder as well as the duration and intensity of exposure to risk factors (Gurnani et al, 2022). Additionally, individuals' physical and psychological characteristics (Cheung et al, 2018) and the effectiveness of preventive measures (Esmaeili et al, 2023) further influence the severity of WRMSDs. Occasionally, WRMSDs can be mild and merely cause transitory discomfort or pain.…”

“…Due to the increasing prevalence of WRMSDs in the workplace, ergonomic intervention is particularly important as a preventive measure (Rostami et al, 2022). To reduce the effect of WRMSDs, several research employed administrative and engineering terms (Kee, 2022), physical and administrative interventions (Motamedzadeh et al, 2021), as well as engineering and training interventions (Esmaeili et al, 2023). These aspects are described in this review using the terms 'application of devices or tools' and 'administrative approach'.…”