Abstract
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are a global leading cause of occupational disability. In the oil and gas industry, the incidence of MSDs has grown by 67% over a five-year period and studies reveal that MSDs prevalence is relatively high for the neck, shoulder, wrist/hand, and knee body areas among employees. Numerous studies have found that the cost of MSDs is high compared with other health issues such as headache, heart disease, depression, or diabetes.
An oilfield services company with operations in Colombia (South America) is addressing MSDs by developing and implementing a strategy to identify ergonomic risks through a five-step model. The steps include a data collection and morbidity survey of symptoms related to musculoskeletal complaints in 682 workers and the analysis of critical jobs, separated by specific tasks and elements to identify frequency and job cycles. Risk factors identification was conducted from critical tasks for such elements as the number of motions per cycle and per shift, forces, weights, posture, and contact stress using two specific job assessment tools: the Manual Handling Assessment Chart (MAC) and Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA). Final steps involve identifying whole-job risk factors and finding controls including engineering, administrative, and behavioral. Upon completion of the five-step ergonomic evaluation, a workplace intervention is introduced including mechanical aid design, reorganization of tasks, and other workplace changes.
Long-term results can be achieved by continuing and systematic workplace evaluation. The control of ergonomic risks will prevent new MSDs as well as avoid the further aggravation of existing cases. With appropiate ergonomic risk identification and control companies can experience decreases in associated costs such as absenteeism, medical management, and employee turnaround related to MSDs with all of their effects, such as operational errors, production delays, and employee retraining.
