OBJECTIVES This study aimed to reveal the multiple factors that are related to the work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) of shipbuilding workers, and to elucidate the relationship between musculoskeletal symptoms and factors such as the change of working conditions, job stress and physical workload. METHODS The study sample comprised 1,059 shipbuilding workers. A structured-questionnaire was used to assess the general characteristics, job stress, psychosocial well-being index (PWI), physical workload, change of working conditions and information concerning musculoskeletal symptoms. We estimated the relations of job stress, physical workload and intensity of labour to musculoskeletal symptoms using univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses. RESULTS The symptom prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in any part of the body was 89.5% by 'criteria 1'in the order of back (58.6%) and shoulder (56.3%). After adjustment for sociodemographic factors, posture factor (Odds ratio [OR]=1.06, 95% confidence interval [ C I ] = 1 . 0 0~1.12), non-posture factor (OR=1.17, CI=1.05~1.31), Borg scale (OR=1.15, C I = 1 . 0 0~1.32), relative work intensity increase (OR=1.92, CI=1.08~3.41), labor flexibility increase (OR=2.04, CI=1.04~4.01), high job demand (OR=2.68, CI=1.48~4.88), and high risk stress group (OR=13.50, CI=3.15~57.97) were all found to be significantly associated with musculoskeletal disorders. CONCLUSION These results suggest that WMSDs have multiple risk factors such as stress, physical workload and change of working conditions. High job demand, increased relative intensification of work and increased flexibility, especially such as subcontract, outsourcing and importing of contingent work, were very important factors associated with increasing WMSDs.
Citations
Citations to this article as recorded by
Wearables for Well-Being: A Longitudinal in Situ Study of Smartwatches to Understand and Enhance Line-Level Housekeeping Work Aaron Necaise, Cynthia Mejia, Joseph T. Kider, Mindy Shoss, Mary Jean Amon International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction.2024; : 1. CrossRef
Effects of Work Intensity and Physical Discomfort on Job Satisfaction in Clinical Nurses Hyojin Kim, Soonjoo Park Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration.2016; 22(4): 362. CrossRef
Musculoskeletal Disorder Symptoms and Its Related Factors among Male Workers in Manufacturing Industries Seung-Hyun Lee, Young-Chae Cho Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society.2015; 16(10): 6627. CrossRef
Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Korea Provoked by Workers’ Collective Compensation Claims against Work Intensification Dongmug Kang, Youngki Kim, Young-Il Lee, Sangbaek Koh, Inah Kim, Hoonkoo Lee Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.2014;[Epub] CrossRef
Job Stress at the Shipbuilding Industry Kwan-Suk Lee, Da-Yeh Chung Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea.2012; 31(1): 177. CrossRef
Musculoskeletal Disorder Symptoms and Related Factors among Male Workers in Small-scale Manufacturing Industries Seung-Hyun Lee, Ju-Yeon Lee, Young-Chae Cho Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society.2012; 13(9): 4025. CrossRef
Ergonomic Research Trends in the Shipbuilding Industry: Present and the Future Yu-Chang Kim Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea.2012; 31(1): 131. CrossRef
Medical Managements of Musculoskeletal Diseases in Shipbuilding Industry Jong-Eun Kim, Young-Ki Kim, Dong-Mug Kang Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea.2012; 31(1): 157. CrossRef
Work-Related Musculoskeletal Symptoms Among Dairy Farmers in Gyeonggi Province, Korea Ji-Hyuk Park, Hyun-Sul Lim, Kwan Lee Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health.2010; 43(3): 205. CrossRef
Characteristics of Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Korea and Their Work-relatedness Evaluation Kun Hyung Kim, Kyoo Sang Kim, Day Sung Kim, Sun Je Jang, Ki Hun Hong, Seung-Won Yoo Journal of Korean Medical Science.2010; 25(Suppl): S77. CrossRef