Ergonomic Assessment of Posture Risk Factors Among Iranian Workers: An Alternative to Conventional Methods

Objectives: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are a global problem which evolves at different workplaces such as industries, administrative, and agriculture sectors. In various studies, such disorders were assessed through multiple methods. It is necessary to evaluate different tools to use them in diverse communities. The aim of this study was to assess the validity of the new ergonomic evaluating method of Novel Ergonomic Postural Assessment (NERPA) method in Iran.  Methods: The employees (n=۴۵۵) of operational units of four companies (drug producers, printing and publishing houses, dairy, and drinks producers) were assessed in ۲۰۱۴. It was a cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical study. One of the researchers developed a questionnaire that was applied to collect demographic data. The NERPA, Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA), and Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) methods were utilized to analyze posture risk factors. Spearman correlation and Kappa agreement were used to analyze the collected data through SPSS V۲۲.  Results: Findings indicated that printing company had the best and pharmaceutical industries had the worst state regarding RULA’s results. The risk levels between NERPA and REBA were not statistically significant (P>۰.۰۵), however, that was significant with RULA’s outcome. Also, the results of NERPA and other two methods were correlated significantly (P<۰.۰۵). Pain in the lumbar area was implied to be the most prevalent problem (۳۵.۱%). Discussion: Data of the present study suggest that NERPA method was a valid tool compared to RULA. The NERPA method could be used to evaluate standing tasks among industrial workers. However, the concurrent validity of NERPA method compared with results of REBA, as a widely used method, were not verified.

Keywords:

Posture , Musculoskeletal diseases , NERPA , Validity , RULA , REBA