Ergonomic Assessment of Workstations and Musculoskeletal Disorders Risk Assessment in the Central Oil Refinery Workshop of Hormozgan Province

Working station includes the physical environment and arrangement of all equipment in the work place. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are among the most common occupational injuries. The purpose of this study was ergonomic assessment of workstations, determining the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and assessing the physical condition of the workers. This descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 40 workers of the Central Workshop Oil refinery in Hormozgan. Worker postures were evaluated by Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) method. Finnish checklist was used to analyse workstation condition and Nordic Questionnaire was used to estimate the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Logistic regression through SPSS16. In 5% of cases, work environment condition was poor, in 5% of the cases, the pressures applied to the elbow and wrist, were severe and legs and buttocks were in poor condition.The prevalences of musculoskeletal disorders of waist (55%), back (52/5%) and neck (40%) were more than those of other parts of the body. There were significant relationships between age and back disorders, job experience and back and waist disorders, and finally, weight and shoulders and knees disorders. The results of this study showed the high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and poor work conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent these problems through appropriate designing of workstations based on ergonomics principles and training workers in identifying risk factors.