Korean J Occup Environ Med.
2004 Dec;16(4):436-449.
Multilevel Analysis of Risk Factors Related to Musculoskeletal Symptoms among Caterers for Elementary School Lunch Services
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Preventive Medicine, Ewha Womans University, Medical College, Armed Forces Medical Command, Korea.
- 2Institute for Occupational and Environmental Health, Korea University, Korea.
- 3Federation of Korean Trade Unions Industrial Safety Bureau, Korea.
- 4Department of Occupational Medicine. Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Korea.
- 5Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Dankook University, Korea.
- 6Department of Preventive Medicine. Eulji University School of Medicine, Korea.
- 7School of Public Health and Institute of Health and Environment, Seoul National University, Korea. paekdm@snu.ac.kr
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
To examine the complaint proportion and characteristics of musculoskeletal symptoms and to find risk factors of musculoskeletal symptoms among caterers for school lunch services.
METHODS
The study subjects were 385 caterers who were working for school lunch services in 71 elementary schools and 114 housewives who had visited a hospital for routine health check-up. A self-recording questionnaire was used to investigate the general characteristics, labor conditions, job stress and nature of musculoskeletal symptom. Caterers were surveyed from September to October in 2003 and the housewives during September by post. The ergonomic risk factors were examined for the caterers of an elementary school in Kyonggi Province in November, 2003.
RESULTS
The complaint proportion of self-reported positive musculoskeletal symptoms was 52.0% and that of severe musculoskeletal symptoms was 24.9%. Ergonomic assessment revealed that washing the dishes, carrying the soup containers and cleaning the sewage drain were highly risky activities in terms of repetitive and heavy weight-bearing motions. As for personal factors, the caterers having severe musculoskeletal symptoms had high psychological job demand. As for the workplace factors, the proportion of schools having severe musculoskeletal symptoms was significant higher where each caterer prepared more than 150 lunches. Among schools without school lunchroom, more schools had caterers having severe musculoskeletal symptoms. Using multilevel analysis, we found that the number of lunches to be prepared per caterer was a significant risk factor of severe musculoskeletal symptoms (O.R. 4.67).
CONCLUSIONS
This study showed that the number of lunches prepared per caterer has a significant influence on the development of musculoskeletal disorder and that caterers work in an ergonomically highly risky job environment. The study results suggest that the number of caterers be increased to decrease the number of lunches prepared per caterer and the ergonomic environment be improved.
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