Affiliations: Safety and Health Assessment and Research for Prevention (SHARP), Department of Labor and Industries, Olympia, WA, USA
Note: [] Corresponding author: Daniel Hunter, SHARP@LNI, PO Box 44330, Olympia, WA 98504-4330, USA.
E-mail: hund235@lni.wa.gov
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) remain a
major occupational health problem, despite decades of research, outreach, and
intervention. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to promote early
identification and prevention of WMSDs by developing education and outreach
materials grounded in interview data collected from workers that have recently
filed for workers compensation (WC) for WMSDs. PROCEDURES: We conducted semi-structured telephone interviews with WC claimants (n=66) from high risk
industries identified through the use of a Prevention Index (PI) in Washington
state with WMSDs of the back, shoulder, hand/wrist, or knee. RESULTS: Perceptions regarding the degree of exposure to WMSD risk factors, the social
construction of pain, and the potential to implement injury-prevention measures
varied widely. Many workers dismissed their injuries as the result of "fluke"
or "freak" occurrences and framed their exposure to risk factors for WMSDs as
either inevitable or "just part of the job." CONCLUSIONS: Workers in high-risk industries for WMSDs described their work conditions in ways that
suggested: (1) a lack of awareness of the potential for developing a WMSD, (2)
a view of work-related pain as normal, and/or (3) a pattern of self-blame for
WMSD onset. A paradigm that either asserts the inevitability of WMSDs or
dismisses potential control measures presents both a significant barrier to
injury prevention efforts as well as a major opportunity for future
occupational health research.
