Volume 8, Issue 3 (Summer 2019)
Arch Hyg Sci 2019, 8(3): 188-201 |
Back to browse issues page
Download citation:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:
Sadeghi Yarandi M, Soltanzadeh A, Koohpaei A, Sajedian A A, Ahmadi V, Sakari S et al . Effectiveness of Three Ergonomic Risk Assessment Tools, Namely NERPA, RULA, and REBA, for Screening Musculoskeletal Disorders. Arch Hyg Sci 2019; 8 (3) :188-201
URL: http://jhygiene.muq.ac.ir/article-1-414-en.html
URL: http://jhygiene.muq.ac.ir/article-1-414-en.html
Mohsen Sadeghi Yarandi1 
, Ahmad Soltanzadeh2 , Alireza Koohpaei2 , Ali Asghar Sajedian1 , Vahid Ahmadi1 , Sogand Sakari1 , Saeid Yazdanirad * 1
, Ahmad Soltanzadeh2 , Alireza Koohpaei2 , Ali Asghar Sajedian1 , Vahid Ahmadi1 , Sogand Sakari1 , Saeid Yazdanirad * 1
1- Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
2- Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Health, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran
2- Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Health, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran
Abstract: (5189 Views)
Background and Aims of the study: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) are among the most common types of occupational diseases and damages, especially in repair and maintenance occupations. There are various methods for the prediction of the risk factors affecting the prevalence of WRMSDs. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of three ergonomic risk assessment tools, namely the Novel Ergonomic Postural Assessment (NERPA), Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA), and Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA), for screening the musculoskeletal disorders in the employees of repair and maintenance occupation in a power plant equipment industry in Alborz province, Iran, in 2017.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on all employees in the repair and maintenance department of a power plant equipment industry, including 295 subjects in six occupational groups. The General Nordic Questionnaire was used to determine the levels of musculoskeletal disorders. The REBA, RULA, and NERPA methods were employed in order to predict the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders. Finally, the data related to the real values of musculoskeletal disorders and risk values predicted by the three mentioned methods were analyzed through Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and kappa agreement coefficient at the significance level of 0.05 using SPSS software (version 25).
Results: Mean age of the participants was reported as 37.52±3.61 years. Correlation values between the levels of musculoskeletal disorders and risk levels predicted in the RULA, NERPA, and REBA were observed to be 0.764, 0.723, and 0.689, respectively (P<0.05). Correlation coefficient values of the risk levels predicted in the RULA method with NERPA and REBA were 0.767 and 0.620, respectively (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Based on comparing the correlation level of prevalence rates of musculoskeletal disorders with predicted risk levels in the three studied methods, the results indicated that the best method for predicting the risk of musculoskeletal disorders in different examined tasks was the RULA method. However, none of the methods had adequate comprehensiveness for the assessment of all four risk levels.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on all employees in the repair and maintenance department of a power plant equipment industry, including 295 subjects in six occupational groups. The General Nordic Questionnaire was used to determine the levels of musculoskeletal disorders. The REBA, RULA, and NERPA methods were employed in order to predict the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders. Finally, the data related to the real values of musculoskeletal disorders and risk values predicted by the three mentioned methods were analyzed through Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and kappa agreement coefficient at the significance level of 0.05 using SPSS software (version 25).
Results: Mean age of the participants was reported as 37.52±3.61 years. Correlation values between the levels of musculoskeletal disorders and risk levels predicted in the RULA, NERPA, and REBA were observed to be 0.764, 0.723, and 0.689, respectively (P<0.05). Correlation coefficient values of the risk levels predicted in the RULA method with NERPA and REBA were 0.767 and 0.620, respectively (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Based on comparing the correlation level of prevalence rates of musculoskeletal disorders with predicted risk levels in the three studied methods, the results indicated that the best method for predicting the risk of musculoskeletal disorders in different examined tasks was the RULA method. However, none of the methods had adequate comprehensiveness for the assessment of all four risk levels.
Type of Study: Original Article |
Subject:
Occuptional Health
Received: 2019/09/17 | Accepted: 2019/11/4 | Published: 2020/01/15
Received: 2019/09/17 | Accepted: 2019/11/4 | Published: 2020/01/15
References
1. Lamprecht A, Padayachy K. The epidemiology of work-related musculoskeletal injuries among chiropractors in the eThekwini municipality. Chiropr Man Ther 2019;27(1):18. PMID: 30923610 [DOI:10.1186/s12998-019-0238-y]
2. Akbari H, Akbari H, Abadi MB, Fesharaki MG, Ghasemi M. Assessing the risk of manual handling of patients and its relationship with the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among nursing staff: performance evaluation of the MAPO and PTAI methods. Iran Red Crescent Med J 2017;19(2):e39860. Link [DOI:10.5812/ircmj.39860]
3. Kalte HO, Khoshakhlagh AH, Rahmani N. Prevalence of musculoskeletal pains and effect of work-related factors among employees on offshore oil and gas installations in Iran. Work 2018;61(3):1-9. PMID: 30373995 [DOI:10.3233/WOR-182818]
4. Ekpenyong CE, Inyang UC. Associations between worker characteristics, workplace factors, and work-related musculoskeletal disorders: a cross-sectional study of male construction workers in Nigeria. Int J Occup Saf Ergon 2014;20(3):447-62. PMID: 25189749 [DOI:10.1080/10803548.2014.11077057]
5. Ghasemi M, Khoshakhlagh AH, Ghanjal A, Yazdanirad S, Laal F. The impacts of rest breaks and stretching exercises on low back pain among commercial truck drivers in Iran. Int J Occup Saf Ergon 2018;7:1-8. PMID: 29595088 [DOI:10.1080/10803548.2018.1459093]
6. World Health Organization. WHO global plan of action on workers' health (2008-2017): Baseline for implementation. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2013. Link
7. Haghshenas Z, Mahdavi S, Rokrok A, Almasian M. An investigation of musculoskeletal disorders using the QEC method among the welders of Khorramabad, Iran, in 2015. Yafte 2018;20(1):23-31. Link
8. Ghamari F. Mohammad Beygi A, Tajik R. Ergonomic evaluation of posture in QEC method in Bakers in Arak. J Sch Public Health Instit Public Health Res 2009;7(1):48. Link
9. Esfandiari N, Samaei SE, Amrollahi M. The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and ergonomic risk factors in repair men: a case study in a steel industry. J Health Dev 2018;7(1):49-59. Link
10. Habibi E. Relationship between work ability and mental workload with musculoskeletal disorders in industrial jobs. J Prev Med 2016;2(4):29-38. Link
11. Maghsoodi Moghadam R, Farhadi R, Farasati F, Abbasi A. Ergonomic evaluation of exposure to risk Factors of musculoskeletal disorders in Cement factory by QEC technique. Sci J Ilam Univ Med Sci 2013;21(6):197-207. Link
12. Amani F, Bahadoram M, Hazrati S. Evaluation of occupational injuries among welders in Northwest Iran. J Prev Epidemiol 2017;2(2):e08. Link
13. Baek H, Song S, Lee D, Pyo S, Shin D, Lee G. Musculoskeletal diseases of heavy industrial workers. Phys Ther Rehabil Sci 2017;6(2):71-6. Link [DOI:10.14474/ptrs.2017.6.2.71]
14. Chiasson MÈ, Imbeau D, Aubry K, Delisle A. Comparing the results of eight methods used to evaluate risk factors associated with musculoskeletal disorders. Int J Indust Ergon 2012;42(5):478-88. Link [DOI:10.1016/j.ergon.2012.07.003]
15. Kong YK, Lee SY, Lee KS, Kim DM. Comparisons of ergonomic evaluation tools (ALLA, RULA, REBA and OWAS) for farm work. Int J Occup Saf Ergon 2018;24(2):218-23. PMID: 28301984 [DOI:10.1080/10803548.2017.1306960]
16. Takala EP, Pehkonen I, Forsman M, Hansson GÅ, Mathiassen SE, Neumann WP, et al. Systematic evaluation of observational methods assessing biomechanical exposures at work. Scand J Work Environ Health 2010;36(1):3-24. PMID: 19953213 [DOI:10.5271/sjweh.2876]
17. Kuorinka I, Jonsson B, Kilbom A, Vinterberg H, Biering-Sørensen F, Andersson G, et al. Standardised Nordic questionnaires for the analysis of musculoskeletal symptoms. Appl Ergon 1987;18(3):233-7. PMID:15676628 [DOI:10.1016/0003-6870(87)90010-X]
18. McAtamney L, Nigel Corlett E. RULA: a survey method for the investigation of work-related upper limb disorders. Appl Ergon 1993;24(2):91-9. PMID: 15676903 [DOI:10.1016/0003-6870(93)90080-S]
19. McAtamney L, Hignett S. Rapid entire body assessment. Handbook of human factors and ergonomics methods. Florida: CRC Press; 2004. P. 97-108. Link [DOI:10.1201/9780203489925.ch8]
20. Sadeghi Yarandi M, Koohpaei A, Arsang Jang S, Ebrahimi A. Ergonomic evaluation of working postures and analysis of relationship between physical activities with musculoskeletal disorders among men barbers in Karaj (Iran). Arch Hyg Sci 2018;7(2):98-105. Link [DOI:10.29252/ArchHygSci.7.2.98]
21. Sanchez-Lite A, Garcia M, Domingo R, Angel Sebastian M. Novel ergonomic postural assessment method (NERPA) using product-process computer aided engineering for ergonomic workplace design. PloS One 2013;8(8):e72703. PMID: 23977340 [DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0072703]
22. Yazdanirad S, Khoshakhlagh AH, Habibi E, Zare A, Zeinodini M, Dehghani F. Comparing the effectiveness of three ergonomic risk assessment methods-RULA, LUBA, and NERPA-to predict the upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders. Indian J Occup Environ Med 2018;22(1):17-21. PMID: 29743780 [DOI:10.4103/ijoem.IJOEM_23_18]
23. Kee D, Karwowski W. A comparison of three observational techniques for assessing postural loads in industry. Int J Occup Saf Ergon 2007;13(1):3-14. PMID: 17362654 [DOI:10.1080/10803548.2007.11076704]
24. Habibi E, Haghshenas B, Zare M, Khakkar S. Risk of musculoskeletal disorders in a manufacturing company using NERPA and QEC methods. J Prev Med 2017;3(4):75-67. Link
Send email to the article author
| Rights and permissions | |
 |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
Owned by Qom University of Medical Sciences
Published by Qom University of Medical Sciences Press
eISSN: 2322-4916
pISSN: 2251-9203
Email: arch.hygiene[at]muq.ac.ir
arch.hygiene[at]gmail.com
