Ergonomic Evaluation of Office Staff by Rapid Office Strain Assessment Method and Its Relationship with the Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders

In recent years, the rapid growth of technology and the use of computers have affected almost all office work stations. Musculoskeletal disorders are very common among administrative staff. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the ergonomic status and prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in office staff affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.

This study was conducted on 96 office staff affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in 2018. To evaluate the ergonomic status, ROSA method and to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders, Nordic standard questionnaire was used. The data were analyzed using Chi-square, one-way ANOVA and descriptive statistics with SPSS-22 software

The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in staff was higher in the neck (62.5%), shoulder (57.3%) and lower back (57.3%) than the other organs. The average ROSA score in the society was 4.9 ±1.02. 70.8% of the subjects were evaluated in warning zone and 29.2% in the area of immediate corrective measures. There was a relationship between the final score of ROSA and the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in the neck, shoulders and lower back. There was also a relationship between age, gender, work experience and the final score of ROSA.

The ROSA method was determined as a suitable tool for evaluating the ergonomic status of office stations. According to the results, employees are at risk of musculoskeletal disorders and have workstations with ergonomic risk factors. Therefore, tensile movements, adjusting work schedules, using equipment such as a document holder and Headset are recommended.