The importance of work organization on workload and musculoskeletal health – Grocery store work as a model

Abstract

The importance of work organization on workload and musculoskeletal healthGrocery store work as a model. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.• You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal AbstractWe have evaluated the consequences of work organization on musculoskeletal health. Using a postal questionnaire, answered by 1600 female grocery store workers, their main work tasks were identified and four work groups were defined (cashier, picking, and delicatessen work, and a mixed group, who performed a mix of these tasks). The crude odds ratios (ORs) for neck/shoulder complaints were 1.5 (95% CI 1.0-2.2), 1.1 (0.7-1.5) and 1.6 (1.1-2.3),respectively, compared to mixed work. Adjusting for individual and psychosocial factors had no effect on these ORs. For elbows/hands, no significant differences were found. Technical measurements of the workload showed large differences between the work groups. Picking work was the most strenuous, while cashier work showed low loads. Quantitative measures of variation revealed for mixed work high between minutes variation and the highest between/within minutes variation. Combining work tasks with different physical exposure levels increases the variation and may reduce the risk of musculoskeletal complaints. Word: 150Keywords: variation, physical exposure, job rotation HighlightsThe physical workload and musculoskeletal symptoms in grocery store workers are clarified Single work tasks had higher risk for musculoskeletal complaints than mixed ones Cashiers had the lowest physical loads but the highest level of musculoskeletal complaintsThe low variation for cashiers may explain their high risk of neck/shoulder complaints Combining work tasks with different workloads will improve the work situation 3

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