Environmental and Organizational Factors Associated with Elbow/Forearm and Hand/Wrist Disorder among Sewing Machine Operators of Garment Industry in Ethiopia

Abstract

Occupational health problems related to upper limp musculoskeletal disorders were the major issue among sewing machine operators of garment industries in Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated risk factors of work related elbow and wrist musculoskeletal disorders among sewing machine operators of garment industries in Galan City, Oromia Regional State. A cross-sectional study was conducted from April 1 to 30, 2012. A total of 422 study subjects were included in this study. Standard Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire was used to collect detailed information on musculoskeletal symptom, sociodemographic data, and factors associated with the problems through face to face interview. From a total of 422 sewing machine operators included in the study 370 (87.7%) were females and 306 (72.5%) were in the age group of <30 years. The prevalence of self-reported work related elbow and wrist musculoskeletal disorders was 40% and 37.7%, respectively. In multivariate analysis, those who had >16 years of service were about five times more likely to develop elbow and wrist musculoskeletal disorders than those who had short (1–5 years) year of services [AOR = 4.7, 95% CI: 1.55–13.02], physical activities [AOR = 5.02, 95% CI: 1.57–16.00], and methods of payment [AOR = 2.01, 95% CI: 1.23–3.28], factors significantly associated with this disorders. Work related elbow and wrist musculoskeletal disorders were high among sewing machine operators in selected garment industries. Moreover, personal and environmental factors were identified as the potential risk factors related to elbow and wrist musculoskeletal disorders among the study group. Therefore, government and the owner of the garment industries should give special attention to prevent and control the problems through proper occupational health and safety policy implementation in the country.

Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Tailors

“…9 The cause of long term disability and sick leave of WMSDs among tailors retirement fund in the world. 10 The main risk factor for the development of the MS disorder for long time adopting sedentary working style with wrong posture. In WMSDs, the most common signs and symptoms are muscle tightness, joint stiffness, swelling, numbness, redness, skin color changes and decreased sweating of the hands.…”

Work related injury and its disparity across selected occupations in Ethiopia: systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Characteristics Of Original Articles In this study to estimate the pooled magnitude of work related injury a total of 8025 workers from MSWM, construction and textile industry were involved. Concerning geographical distribution of the studies, the 17 studies were obtained from the four regions of the country: six studies from Addis Ababa (10,19,(21)(22)(23)30), three from Oromia (24,27,29), seven (7) from Amhara (11,17,18,20,25,26,28), and one from Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) (29). The highest prevalence of occupational injury and illness (84.7%) was reported in Addis Ababa (10) whereas the lowest prevalence (31.4%) was reported from a study done in Arba Minch (SNNPR) (9).…”

“…Lastly the pooled odds of work related injury among those workers using PPE was 52% less than those who did not use PPE at work place (0.48 (95%CI: 0.36, 0.65)). To calculate the pooled odds ratio of alcohol drinking habit (9,11,17,18,26,28,30,31), cigarette smoking habit (18,24,26,30,31), khat chewing habit (9, 22, 26-28, 30, 31), work related stress (9,20,26,29,30), level of education (9,11,18,24,26,30,31), and use of PPE (9,11,18,19,22,26,27,(29)(30)(31) reports of a minimum of 5 to 10 studies were included.…”

Epidemiology of work-related musculo-skeletal disorders among adults in Ethiopia: a systematic review protocol

“…However, musculoskeletal disorders remain a major global health concern and an immense burden for LMICs like Ethiopia where health budgets are already constrained and channeled life-threatening conditions. Studies have shown that musculoskeletal pain prevalence among the working population in Ethiopia varies from 35% to 74.5% [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19].…”