Ergonomic Assessment of Risk Factors for Musculoskeletal Disorders of the Administrative Staff in Military Center Using ROSA

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the most common type of occupational disease and injuries in the workplace that lead to reduced productivity, efficiency, and disability of individuals especially among military personnel. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of MSDs among the administrative staff of a military center and to identify ergonomic risk factors in the occurrence of these disorders.

 In the present cross-sectional study, 53 administrative staff of a military center located in Karaj city in 1400 that was selected by census method. Data collection tools included demographic information form, the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) to estimate the prevalence of MSDs, and the ROSA method to evaluate posture. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, T-test, and Fisher’s exact test using SPSS software version 26.

All subjects were male and the mean age of the administrative staff of the military center was 41/43±6/564. The highest prevalence of these disorders was 56.8% in the knees, 54.1% in the shoulders, and 40.5% in the neck and upper back. The final score risk level of the ROSA rapid office stress assessment method includes 32.5% (n = 12) at the safe level with a score of less than 3, 62.1% (n = 23) in the alert area with scores between 3 to 5 and 5.4% (2 people) are in the area of need for ergonomic intervention with a score above 5.

According to the average ROSA score, employees were in the warning area in terms of ergonomic risk factors. Discomfort and pain in the knees and shoulders are the most common postural abnormalities and MSDs in the administrative staff of this military center respectively. Taking corrective measures in workstations, reducing the duration of using electronic devices, increasing the rate of sports and stretching activities during working hours, and increasing the level of knowledge and awareness of employees by providing organizational training can be mentioned to reduce and prevent the prevalence of MSDs in the study group.