Journal of School of Public Health and

Background and Aim: In the raw furniture preparation workshops, in which the workers usually have an undesirable postures when at work, ergonomic assessment and the work environment improvement seem essential. Developing checklists and calculating ergonomic indices would be useful in this assessment. This study was conducted with the objectives of assessing musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) risk factors and determining types of corrective measures in raw furniture preparation workshops.

Materials and methods: After conducting task analysis, 268 workers were assessed using an ergonomic checklist developed for the purpose and ergonomic indices were calculated. The Nordic musculoskeletal disorders questionnaire was used to determine the prevalence rate of MSDs among the workers. Data were analyzed using the t-test and the test of proportions.

Results: The highest prevalence was in the lower back (38.4%) and the knees 36.2%). Statistical analysis revealed that there were significant associations between MSDs and calculated ergonomic indices (p<0.001). In addition, calculation of OR revealed that ergonomic conditions were associated with MSDs in different body parts (OR=2.90-9.49, p<0.001). On the whole, the working conditions of 32.46% of the workers studied were poor from an ergonomic point of view.

Conclusion: The checklist developed was found to be an appropriate and low-cost tool for ergonomic assessment. The most important problems in the workshops were due to inappropriate general working conditions, inappropriate organization, and unsuitable work stations.