Lage Burström1, Anna Aminoff2, Bodil Björ3, Satu Mänttäri4, Tohr Nilsson5, Hans Pettersson6, Hannu Rintamäki7, Ingemar Rödin8, Victor Shilov9, Ljudmila Talykova10, Arild Vaktskjold11, Jens Wahlström12. 1. Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden (Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine). lage.burstrom@umu.se. 2. University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine). Anna.Louise.Aminoff@unn.no. 3. Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden (Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine). bodil.bjor@umu.se. 4. Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Oulu, Finland. satu.manttari@ttl.fi. 5. Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden (Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine). tohr.nilsson@umu.se. 6. Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden (Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine). hans.pettersson@umu.se. 7. Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Oulu, Finland. hannu.rintamaki@ttl.fi. 8. University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway (Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine). ingemar.rodin@av.se. 9. Northwest Public Health Research Center, St. Petersburg, Russia. vshilov@inbox.ru. 10. Northwest Public Health Research Center, St. Petersburg, Russia. talyk@mail.ru. 11. Hedmark University of Applied Sciences, Elverum, Norway (Department of Public Health). arild.vaktskjold@hihm.no. 12. Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden (Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine). jens.wahlstrom@umu.se.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: This cross-sectional questionnaire study was carried out at 4 open-pit mines in Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden as part of the MineHealth project. The aim has been to compare the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms between drivers of mining vehicles and non-drivers. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The mine workers were asked whether they had suffered from any musculoskeletal symptoms during the previous 12 months in specified body regions, and to grade the severity of these symptoms during the past month. They were also asked about their daily driving of mining vehicles. RESULTS: The questionnaire was completed by 1323 workers (757 vehicle drivers) and the reported prevalence and severity of symptoms were highest for the lower back, followed by pain in the neck, shoulder and upper back. Drivers in the Nordic mines reported fewer symptoms than non-drivers, while for Russian mine workers the results were the opposite of that. The daily driving of mining vehicles had no significant association with the risk of symptoms. Female drivers indicated a higher prevalence of symptoms as compared to male drivers. CONCLUSIONS: The study provided only weak support for the hypothesis that drivers of vehicles reported a higher prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms than non-vehicle drivers. There were marked differences in the prevalence of symptoms among workers in various enterprises, even though the nature of the job tasks was similar. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2017;30(4):553-564. This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.
OBJECTIVES: This cross-sectional questionnaire study was carried out at 4 open-pit mines in Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden as part of the MineHealth project. The aim has been to compare the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms between drivers of mining vehicles and non-drivers. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The mine workers were asked whether they had suffered from any musculoskeletal symptoms during the previous 12 months in specified body regions, and to grade the severity of these symptoms during the past month. They were also asked about their daily driving of mining vehicles. RESULTS: The questionnaire was completed by 1323 workers (757 vehicle drivers) and the reported prevalence and severity of symptoms were highest for the lower back, followed by pain in the neck, shoulder and upper back. Drivers in the Nordic mines reported fewer symptoms than non-drivers, while for Russian mine workers the results were the opposite of that. The daily driving of mining vehicles had no significant association with the risk of symptoms. Female drivers indicated a higher prevalence of symptoms as compared to male drivers. CONCLUSIONS: The study provided only weak support for the hypothesis that drivers of vehicles reported a higher prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms than non-vehicle drivers. There were marked differences in the prevalence of symptoms among workers in various enterprises, even though the nature of the job tasks was similar. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2017;30(4):553-564. This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.
Authors: Kirsi Jussila; Sirkka Rissanen; Anna Aminoff; Jens Wahlström; Arild Vaktskjold; Ljudmila Talykova; Jouko Remes; Satu Mänttäri; Hannu Rintamäki Journal: Ind Health Date: 2017-10-11 Impact factor: 2.179