Background Operation and maintenance work in the power grid industry often involving climbing, manual handling, and poor postures causing serious problems like work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). The influencing factors of WMSDs are not very clear, but the problem has been widely concerned in this industry.

Objective To understand the prevalence and influencing factors of WMSDs among climbing task-involved workers in power supply enterprises.

Methods Using a cross-sectional design, a total of 702 workers involving climbing task from 10 power supply enterprises in Jilin Province, Tianjin Municipality, and Shandong province were selected as study subjects using cluster sampling. The Musculoskeletal Disorders Questionnaire which was revised by Lei Yang was used to estimate the prevalence and identify related factors of WMSDs. \chi ^2 test and multiple logistic regression were used to analyze the data.

Results A total of 702 subjects were approached, 649 valid questionnaires were recovered, and the effective recovery rate was 92.45%. The prevalence of WMSDs was 81.2%, and neck (65.0%), low back (59.0%), and shoulders (54.4%) were areas of high prevalence of WMSDs. The multiple logistic regression analysis results showed that sometimes and often/very often holding awkward postures were the risk factors of neck, shoulders, low back, knees, upper back, hands/wrists, ankles/feet, elbows, and hips/thighs WMSDs; the OR (95%CI) values were 1.931 (1.260-2.959) and 3.145 (1.810-15.465), 2.700 (1.694-4.305) and 3.888 (2.224-6.798), 1.860 (1.213-2.852) and 3.150 (1.833-5.414), 2.348 (1.456-3.785) and 3.689 (2.130-6.388), 1.782 (1.128-2.815) and 3.274 (1.935-5.538), 1.710 (1.014-2.884) and 2.595 (1.455-4.630), 1.836 (1.019-3.305) and 2.860 (1.526-5.358), 2.250 (1.185-4.275) and 3.032 (1.505-6.108), 2.080 (1.048-4.128) and 3.127 (1.501-6.516), respectively. Department staff shortage was the risk factor of neck, shoulders, low back, upper back, hands/wrists, and ankles/feet WMSDs; the OR (95%CI) values were 1.791 (1.038-3.093), 2.000 (1.119-3.573), 2.506 (1.429-4.394), 2.063 (1.113-3.822), 2.256 (1.069-4.762), and 2.699 (1.103-6.601), respectively. Frequent knee bending was the risk factor of knees, upper back, and hands/wrists WMSDs; the OR (95%CI) values were 1.895 (1.327-2.704), 1.586 (1.131-2.224), and 2.026 (1.390-2.951), respectively. Often pushing/pulling heavy objects was the risk factor of shoulders, low back, and hips/thighs WMSDs; the OR (95%CI) values were 1.485 (1.066-2.192), 1.547 (1.064-2.749), and 1.822 (1.160-2.862), respectively. Long-time heavily neck tilting forward was the risk factor of elbows and hips/thighs WMSDs; the OR (95%CI) values were 1.649 (1.068-2.546) and 2.005 (1.285-3.129) respectively. Long-time ankle or foot bending was the risk factor of ankles/feet and elbows WMSDs; the OR (95%CI) values were 2.481 (1.685-3.655) and 1.655 (1.065-2.571) respectively. Cold or changes in temperature was the risk factor of neck and shoulders WMSDs; the OR (95%CI) values were 2.182 (1.072-4.443) and 2.116 (1.010-4.431) respectively. Exercise was the protective factor of neck, shoulders, low back, upper back, and ankles/feet WMSDs; the OR (95%CI) values were 0.493 (0.363-0.666), 0.625 (0.438-0.888), 0.404 (0.283-0.576), 0.570 (0.408-0.797), and 0.639 (0.436-0.937), respectively.

Conclusion The prevalence of WMSDs is high among workers involving climbing task in power supply enterprises, and neck, low back, and shoulders are the most commonly affected body parts. The influencing factors involve awkward postures, repetitive movements, repetitive tasks, pushing/pulling heavy objects, staff shortage, poor working environment, and exercise.