The impact of ergonomic-educational interventions on reduction of musculoskeletal symptoms among employees of oil and gas installations in Iran.

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.