Artificial Lighting and its Relation with Body Posture in Office Workplaces

Inadequate lighting in the workplace can cause unconventional changes in the posture of office workers. Poor ergonomic conditions in the office cause inappropriate postures during work and increase pressure on the musculoskeletal system which can cause some disorders in long-term. In this study, the relationship between work environment lighting with the prevalence and severity of musculoskeletal pain among office workers has been investigated.
In this study, the intensity of local illumination at work surface and at the perpendicular surface (perpendicular surface to the work surface and at the height if workers eye), and intensity of general lighting was measured based on the standard of The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) using the SEKONIC, C-7000 SpectroMaster. Also, to assess the prevalence and severity of pain of musculoskeletal disorders, a Nordic Questionnaire, Body map index were used respectively. To assess the office work strain, Rapid Office Strain Assessment techniques (ROSA) were used. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 21.
The results showed that the average intensity of general lighting, local lighting at work surface and at the perpendicular surface was 30.6%, 33.9%, and 38.4% lower than required illumination intensity of Occupational Exposure Limits (OEL). The neck and waist had the highest prevalence of the musculoskeletal disorder among the workers. The highest frequency percentage of scores in the ROSA method related to scores 5 (41.7%) which had a significant correlation with illumination intensity.
illumination intensity can be considered as one of the important factors affecting posture in administrative staff. Therefore, the improvement of illumination intensity can decrease the severity of musculoskeletal pain and improve the body postures of the staff and, consequently, increase their comfort.