Module 5: Work-Related Musculo-Skeletal Disorders - Risk Factors |
WRULDs RISK FACTORS:
WRULDs are caused, aggravated or precipitated by one or more of the following risk factors, singly or in combination:
Task-related factors:
- Highly repetitive upper limb movements.
- Awkward and/or static working postures.
- Movements at the extremes of reach.
- Contact stress (for example, uncomfortable gripping and twisting, sharp edges to hand tools, desk edges, etc.).
- High force requirements.
- Duration of exposure to tasks.
Environmental-related factors:
- Vibration.
- Low temperatures (Cold).
- Lighting.
- Work organisation (for example, rotation, hours, shifts, high task pressure, conveyor belt).
Psychosocial factors:
- Job dissatisfaction: +.
- Monotonous work: ++.
- Perceived intensified work load: ++.
- Lack of job control: ++.
- Lack of job clarity: ++.
- Job stress leading to excessive pressure such as high job demands, time pressures and lack of control.
- Depression / burn out / affirmative action.
- Lack of social support from supervisors or co-workers.
- Ttasks requiring high levels of attention and concentration are related to increased muscle tension, changing thresholds for the perception of pain and fatigue..
- "compensitis".
Individual differences
- All individuals are different and for biological reasons there may be some people who are more or less likely to develop an WRULDS.
- Individual differences may also have implications for employees reporting WRULDS type conditions.
- Genetic predisposition.
- New employees - time to acquire the necessary work skills and/or rate of work.
- Difference in competence and skills.
- Anthropometry - workers of varying body sizes, ie height, reach etc.
- Vulnerable groups, for example, older, younger workers and new or expectant mothers.
- Gender.
- Health status and disability.
- Individual attitudes or characteristics that may affect compliance with safe working practices or reporting of symptoms.
- Smoking: Some association with LBP.
Lower back pain: Occupational risk factors:
- Heavy manual labour.
- Lifting, twisting, awkward motions.
- Sitting.
- Driving, whole body vibration.
- Shorter duration of employment.
- ? Psychosocial: monotonous work, low motivation, lower rating by supervisor.
Lower back pain: Non-occupational risk factors:
- Smoking.
- Taller.
- More births.
- Heavy alcohol.
Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Health (DOH) - Modules 3 – 5: Occupational Medicine & Toxicology by Prof Rodney Ehrlich & Prof Mohamed Jeebhay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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