WMSD: Evaluating Interventions among Office Workers

摘要

The goal of the report is to demonstrate the effectiveness of a workplace program for primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) of the neck and upper extremity. The aims of the report are: (1) to document the nature and timing of the interventions undertaken by the workplace parties (labor and management) as part of their commitment to a multipronged 'RSI program' in an office workplace; (2) to measure changes in awareness of WMSD prevalence, knowledge of WMSD risk factors and management attitudes towards WMSD; (3) to measure changes in exposure to physical and psychological risk factors for WMSD and WMSD symptoms among employees undergoing reorganization and a relative control group to assess the impact of an ergonomically informed reorganization process; (4) to assess whether the RSI Program resulted in a workforce wide reduction in self-reported exposures to physical and psychological risk factors for WMSD with a concomitant reduction in the self-reported period prevalence and severity of WMSD-related symptoms and their associated disability; (5) to implement and evaluate an enhanced workplace WMSD surveillance system; (6) to model changes in rates of health care utilization and associated costs for WMSD and determine whether the RSI Program resulted in reductions in these measures.