Working conditions under multiple exposures: A cross-sectional study of private sector administrative workers (original) (raw)

Ergonomics Assessment of Office Desk Workers Working in Corporate Offices

https://www.ijhsr.org/IJHSR\_Vol.9\_Issue.8\_Aug2019/IJHSR\_Abstract.051.html, 2019

Background: Organizations today face multiple challenges to maintain the health and performance of employees while attempting to integrate new technologies and support a widening range of work styles. [1] The paradigm shift in the lifestyle of office employees from active to sedentary style can be clearly seen in the modern offices. Office computer workers use computers on an average 6-12 hours/day in a static working posture. [2] This has impacted greatly the health of the employees. The study was undertaken to provide an insight to the various health-related problems of the office employees due to the workplace design and environmental conditions in the modern offices. Methodology: 80 desk workers from various corporate offices in the city of Mumbai were interviewed. A structured questionnaire for interview purpose was developed to elicit data pertaining to the work environment, workplace furniture, office equipment, and musculoskeletal disorders. The respondents were office workers who were professionals, managers and administrative workers. Result: The results revealed that 80% of the respondents suffered from atleast one musculoskeletal problem at their workplace. Majority of the respondents reported of suffering from lower back pain (68.5%) followed by neck pain (64.2%), upper back pain (45.7%) and shoulder pain (44.2%) respectively. 81.3% of desk workers did not get any type of ergonomics training on usage of office furniture"s and computer related accessories. About 40% and above felt chair and table to be comfortable; but storage and printer placement was not satisfactory. 31.5% of the respondents reported the environment to be noisy and disturbing; leading to mental fatigue. Conclusion: Sustained prolonged static posture, awkward posture, chair design, placement of keyboard and mouse and non-availability of footrest were stated as the most common causes for the musculoskeletal issues. Majority of the employees reported internal physical environment to be good; but they suffered from lack of concentration and stress respectively.

An Assessment of Ergonomics Climate and Its Association with Self-Reported Pain, Organizational Performance and Employee Well-Being

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021

Previous studies have demonstrated that a positive ergonomics climate with an equal focus on improving operational performance and employee well-being is beneficial to both employee health and organizational performance. This study aimed to assess the ergonomics climate at two power plants and examine its association with self-reported pain, performance, and well-being. At two power plants in Iran, survey responses from 109 and 110 employees were obtained. The questionnaires contained data on ergonomics climate, organizational performance, employee health, and self-reported pain. Results showed that the mean ergonomics climate scores between the Besat and Rey power plants were significantly different (p < 0.001). The overall ergonomics climate score, and all subscales scores, were positively associated with organizational performance (p < 0.001). The overall ergonomics climate score, and some of its subscales, were significantly associated with employees’ general health (p &lt...

Office work: ergonomic and medical aspects

A special attention must be given to office work in order to increase efficiency of the corporation and to preserve the health of the workforce. Physical work is easier to plan and to measure because the tasks are predictable and repeatable in a high volume. Office work includes various activities with difficulties in estimating time- and resource need. Physical and mental flexibility of people bridges the challenges of continuous working but there are many long term adverse effects. The paper looks the impacts of office work environment on the muscular-skeletal system of ergonomic perspective. People spend several hours every day sitting in front of the computer during work and non-work activities. Although technologically the development of computer technology is dynamic, people may criticize the results from the ergonomic point of view. Economic aspects and lack of knowledge together may lead to the development of a work environment, which discourages effective work. The most common problems come from the bad sitting posture, the wrong positioning of the mouse or the keyboard on the table and the improper selection of tools and gadgets in the direct work environment. These lead to mutation of human muscular-skeletal system. Next to this the static muscle load results short term problems as well. The experiences of our empiric research shows that factors of individual satisfaction may differ from the professional viewpoint of ergonomics and medical sciences. This is why exploring the possibilities of convergence is important, including knowledge dissemination or promotion of prevention exercises.

Developing an Observational Technique of Assessing and Identifying Ergonomic and Health Risk Factors Associated with Office Work: A Study of Selected Offices in Three State-Owned Tertiary Institutions of Katsina State in Nigeria

http://ijshr.com/IJSHR\_Vol.2\_Issue.2\_April2017/IJSHR001.pdf, 2017

Work place safety and health has become a global mechanism of response to various occupational hazards, injuries and diseases. Due to the neglect of basic safety and health regulations in Nigeria, office work especially in the governmental sector, has come to be associated with ergonomic and health related issues such as musculo-skeletal disorders and eye syndrome as a result of exposure of workers to certain risk factors. Musculo-skeletal disorders and eye syndromes are common complaints among typists, secretaries, computer workers and other related office activities with grave consequences on workers' productivity and the national economy. The objective of this study is to identify and assess the level of exposure of office workers in the three tertiary institutions of Katsina State of Nigeria, in the category of typists, secretaries, personal assistants, computer workers and other related clerical activities. The methodology adopted in the study is a non-participant, unobtrusive observation using Rapid Office Stress Assessment Checklist Technique (ROSA). The checklist provided specific stressor variables and the health related risk factors associated with the office work. The findings of this study is that, workers in the three state-owned tertiary institutions in Katsina State of Nigeria, are exposed to ergonomic and other health related risk factors due to poor work facilities and poor working habit. It is therefore concluded that, in order to achieve a sustainable and productive office work environment, the working facilities and work behaviour of the workers must be changed and improved and that office safety and health regulations must be made as part of the organisational practice.