A Health-Impact Assessment of an Ergonomic Measure to Reduce the Risk of Work-Related Lower Back Pain, Lumbosacral Radicular Syndrome and Knee Osteoarthritis among Floor Layers in The Netherlands

P. Paul F. M. Kuijer (), Henk F. van der Molen and Steven Visser
Additional contact information
P. Paul F. M. Kuijer: Netherlands Center for Occupational Diseases, Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health Research institute, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Henk F. van der Molen: Netherlands Center for Occupational Diseases, Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health Research institute, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Steven Visser: Netherlands Center for Occupational Diseases, Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health Research institute, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 5, 1-10

Abstract: Sand–cement-bound screed floor layers are at risk of work-related lower back pain, lumbosacral radicular syndrome and knee osteoarthritis, given their working technique of levelling screed with their trunk bent while mainly supported by their hands and knees. To reduce the physical demands of bending of the trunk and kneeling, a manually movable screed-levelling machine was developed for floor layers in the Netherlands. The aim of this paper is to estimate the potential health gains of working with a manually movable screed-levelling machine on the risk of lower back pain (LBP), lumbosacral radicular syndrome (LRS) and knee osteoarthritis (KOA) compared to traditional working techniques. This potential health gain was assessed using the epidemiological population estimates of the Population Attributable Fraction (PAF) and the Potential Impact Fraction (PIF), combined with work-related risk estimates for these three disorders from systematic reviews. The percentage of workers exceeding these risk estimates was based on worksite observations among 28 floor layers. For LBP, 16/18 workers were at risk when using traditional working techniques, with a PAF = 38%, and for those using a manually movable screed-levelling machine, this was 6/10 with a PIF = 13%. For LRS, these data were 16/18 with a PAF = 55% and 14/18 with a PIF = 18%, and for KOA, 8/10 with a PAF = 35% and 2/10 with a PIF = 26%. A manually movable screed-levelling machine might have a significant impact on the prevention of LBP, LRS and KOA among floor layers in the Netherlands, and health-impact assessments are a feasible approach for assessing health gains in an efficient way.

Keywords: lower back pain; osteoarthritis; knee; prevalence; workplace; exposure; musculoskeletal diseases; risk factors; prevention; construction industry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/5/4672/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/5/4672/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:5:p:4672-:d:1089471

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().