Assessing Exposure to Risk Factors for Workrelated Musculoskeletal Disorders Using ART method in a Manufacturing Company

Background & Aims of the Study: Musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) is one of the most seriousconsequences of improper posture or work-related strain with Symptoms of pain in one or moreregions of the body. Repeated long-term work-related load can be considered as the main causeof ULWMSDs. This study was aimed to do ergonomic assessment in a manufacturing companyin Kashan city using ART as a new method (this method was established in 2007) in 2014-2015.Materials and Methods: In a cross-sectional study, total workers of a manufacturing factory(240), by the randomized sampling procedure were selected. Demographic and work related datawere collected into the check list. Data about musculoskeletal disorders were provided frombody map questionnaire (BM) and ART method worksheets. Statistical analyses were used todata analysis by SPSS V20.Results: Data analysis from BM illustrated that %85.8 of workers claimed work related pain inone of their body limbs at least. There was a significant relation between pain position numbersand gender of workers (p<0.05). The total exposure score based on the ART method equals to30.07±12.43. Art scores revealed that 74.6% of tasks were in the high level of risk.Conclusion: Despite participants had low mean of age and work history, the prevalence ofmusculoskeletal disorders was high and the relationship between the ART score and theprevalence rates of disorders showed that the risk of these disorders was higher in people withmusculoskeletal disorders than people without these disorders. The findings from this studysuggest that management needs to identify, assess and control the most relevant WMSD riskfactors for a particular job, accurately.