Background The prevalence rate of occupational musculoskeletal diseases (OMD) of assembly line workers is reported up to 38.03%. Psychology is a potential impact factor of OMD. Positive occupational safety attitude refers to benign cues and positive psychological tendency of workers, but its influence on OMD is rarely reported.
Objective The study aims to explore the correlation between positive occupational safety attitude and OMD of assembly line workers.
Methods A total of 2 172 assembly line workers with more than one year of employment were selected from three manufacturing factories in a city of Pearl River Delta after excluding those not eligible by judgement sampling method. Self-administered General and Work Information Questionnaire was used to collect information on workers' age, gender, marriage, education, work category, work age, work stress, and stationary work posture. Improved Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaires were used to survey OMD concerning different body parts in the past 12 months. Questionnaire of Positive Occupational Safety Attitude was used to investigate workers' attitudes towards safety policy, leaders, and optimism.
Results There were 1479 male workers and 693 female workers in the 2172 study subjects; their average age was (37.9±8.2) years; their average work age in assembly lines was (6.4±1.6) years. They were 749 workers from a car and car-parts manufacturer, 781 workers from a wooden furniture manufacturer, and 642 workers from a clothing manufacturer. There were 826 cases (38.03%) of OMD in the past 12 months, including 467 cases (56.54%) in waist and/or low back, 201 cases (24.33%) in shoulders, 97 cases (11.74%) in upper limbs, and 61 cases (7.38%) in lower limbs. The prevalence of OMD was higher in males (versus females) (P < 0.001), the workers at >30 years of age (versus those at ≤ 30 years) (P < 0.001), the workers of >5 years of service in assembly lines (versus those of ≤ 5 years) (P < 0.001), the workers with high work stress (versus those with low work stress) (P < 0.001), and the workers with stationary work postures (versus those not) (P=0.028). A statistical difference in the prevalence of OMD (P < 0.001) was found among the workers in different work categories. The prevalence of OMD was also lower in the workers supporting safety policy, supporting leaders, and holding optimistic attitude than those not (P < 0.001). The results of logistic regression analysisOR (95% CI) revealed that age above average2.25 (2.07, 2.43), work age in assembly lines above average2.64 (2.31, 2.97), heavy work stress3.10 (2.86, 3.34), and keeping stationary work postures2.80 (2.53, 3.07) were the risk factors of OMD, while supporting safety policy0.70 (0.56, 0.84), supporting leaders0.75 (0.61, 0.89), and holding optimistic attitude0.66 (0.47, 0.85) were the protective factors of OMD (P < 0.05).
Conclusion Positive occupational safety attitude is a potential protective factor of OMD, but the mechanism and cause of reducing OMD require further study.
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