Affiliations: [a] Occupational Medicine Unit, University Hospital of Verona, Verona (VR), Italy
| [b] Occupational Medicine Area - Hygiene, Occupational and Forensic Section, Department of Experimental Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Naples (NA), Italy
| [c] Department of Engineering, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Aversa (CE), Italy
| [d] FCA, Manufacturing Planning & Control – Ergonomics, Turin, Italy
| [e] SC Medicina del Lavoro U – Rischio Occupazionale AOU Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino, Turin, Italy
| [f] Medical Statistics Unit, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Naples (NA), Italy
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: Maria Grazia Lourdes Monaco, Occupational Medicine Unit, University Hospital of Verona, P.le L.A. Scuro, 10 - 37134 Verona (VR), Italy. Tel.: +39 3389326685; E-mail: mariagrazialourdes.monaco@aovr.veneto.it.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE:To estimate the three-year cumulative risk of work-related upper limb disorders (WRULDs) in a cohort of automotive industry workers and to provide a first test of the ability of the European Assembly Worksheet (EAWS) methodology to predict WRULDs. METHODS:292 workers were investigated by reviewing workers’ medical records during the period from 2012–2015 to determine their exposure to biomechanical overload according to EAWS risk scores (0–25, low risk, Green zone; 26–50, medium risk, Yellow zone; >50, High risk; Red zone). RESULTS:The risks were 0.83%, 5.71%, and 11.88% for the Control (unexposed), Green and Yellow Groups, respectively. Only the comparison between the Yellow/Control Groups was significant (p = 0.0014). In total, we observed 17 cases of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) (14 symptomatic and 3 cases detected by physical examination). CONCLUSIONS:The EAWS is a useful tool for the preliminary risk assessments of biomechanical overload among automotive industry workers. The finding of mainly non-specific disorders highly suggests that health surveillance should aim to identify not only full-blown diseases but also symptomatic cases.
