Ergonomic analysis of musculoskeletal discomforts among conversational VDT operators

VDT tasks are rapidly increasing as the office automation prevails. Despite its numerous benefits, occupational hazards such as visual fatigue, eye strain, radiation and musculoskeletal stresses have emerged as an important issue. This study was designed to investigate the effects of work postures and anthropometric differences upon the musculoskeletal stresses experience by operators involved in conversational VDT tasks. Evaluation of the level of musculoskeletal discomfort was performed for 297 VDT operators from three divisions of telecommunication company in Korea. The ergonomic variables of the VDT tasks and the operators' anthropometric variables were evaluated for 70 out of the 297 VDT operators. Factor analysis is used for identifying underlying pattern of discomfort and multiple regression analysis were performed to examine the relationship between the measured ergonomic variables and the musculoskeletal discomfort. This study indicates that the ergonomic variables have influences on the musculoskeletal discomfort. It is important to provide the workers with fully adjustable workstations so that they can maintain their work postures most suitable for the sustained VDT work. Furthermore, in order to achieve the best working conditions, VDT operators should be given a proper training for the adjustment of their workstations. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.