Affiliations: [a] Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Health, Kashan University of Medical Science, Kashan, Iran
| [b] Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Health, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran
| [c] School of Health, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran
| [d] Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence: Saeid Yazdanirad, School of Health, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran. Tel.: +098 913 408 4163; saeedyazdanirad@gmail.com ORCID: 0000-0002-5251-6637.
Note: [1] ORCID: 0000-0002-2265-5054
Abstract: BACKGROUND:Musculoskeletal disorders can cause increased absenteeism, costs, and injuries. OBJECTIVE:The present study was aimed to investigate the impact of ergonomic-educational interventions on the reduction of musculoskeletal symptoms among employees of oil and gas installations. METHODS:This interventional study was conducted on 1243 male workers of oil and gas installations in the south of Iran. The Nordic questionnaire and quick exposure check (QEC) method were used to evaluate the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders in the participants. Then, the educational interventions via training sessions, designed educational booklets and leaflets, and prepared educational film were performed. Data were collected at the times of two months before and six months after the interventions. RESULTS:The prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms, at least in one of the body areas, was equal to 71.28%. The results showed that the prevalence of these symptoms significantly decreased in all body areas after the educational interventions (P <0.028). The highest reduction rate occurred in the regions of wrists and hands (52.77%), knees (47.17%), and waist (47.13%), respectively. Moreover, the results indicated that the mean value of the total score of quick exposure check (QEC) had a meaningful decrease from 0.92 to 0.54 after the educational interventions (P <0.0001). CONCLUSION:The planned educational interventions efficiently reduced the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and the ergonomic risk levels estimated by QEC in the research population.
Keywords: Musculoskeletal symptoms, Nordic questionnaire, QEC method, ergonomics, educational intervention, oil and gas industries
