Work Stations Revision by Ergonomic Posture Analyzing of Arak Bakery Workers

Regarding high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among bakery workers and due to lack of information concerning posture analyzing, this study was carried out to identify working postures precisely in order to revise their work stations. In this cross-sectional study 334 Araki bakery workers were randomly selected. The data was collected using Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) through interview and Ovako Working-posture Analysis System (OWAS) by video tapes. Based on OWAS postural analyzing, recommended actions based on different body regions for different jobs was separately introduced. The averages of age and job experiences were 33±10.4 yr and 13.9±10 yr respectively. Most musculoskeletal disorders were in the knees (62.2%), low back (58.8%) and legs (53.9%) respectively. This research revealed that 42.2% of Araki bakery workers postures were in slightly up to very harmful postures. High prevalence of MSDs in different body regions caused 33.7% of workers to leave the work stations. Meanwhile awkward postures occurred in bent back (5.1%), twisted back (4.3%), bent and twisted back (2.8%) bent of knees (8.8%) and arms upper the shoulder (22.2%). The most awkward postures observed in job group of Shatters and there was a significant relation between neck, elbow, shoulder, knee disorders and work experiences (p<0/05). With regard to the results of this study, due to a high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and harmful postures (bending, rotation and combined postures with time prolonged percentage) in bakery workers, revision of work operation and use of appropriate equipments in these jobs seems imperative. Therefore, an ergonomic intervention in order to correct poor postures is suggested.