• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.121-134
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• 2004

A research project was conducted to study work-related musculoskeletal disorders （MSDs） at subway train repair plant in Korea. The project was consisted of 4 main parts; education on the topics of MSDs for all workers, symptom survey, medical check-up, investigation of MSD risk factors. The result of symptom survey showed that 95.2％ of the respondents complained pains on at least one part of the body. After cross-sectional analysis of various information and risk factors, 86.8％ of respondents were considered as active health surveillance level 1 that require continuous monitoring on their symptoms and working conditions. And 57.1％ of the respondents were considered as active health surveillance level 2 that needed medical check-ups for proper medical treatment. The analysis of occupational risk factors revealed that handling of heavy object (46.15％) and repeated awkward postures (46.15％) were two most contributing risk factors for the on-set of MSD at this work site followed by static strain (7.7％), and vibration and impact (3.8％). Medical examination was performed by an industrial medicine MD on 156 workers those considered as active health surveillance level 2. The result showed that 35 workers (20.7％) were considered as MSD patient group at severe level, and 68.6 workers (68.6％) were considered as moderate group and 18 workers (10.6％) were considered minor or normal group those have no symptom.