Musculoskeletal symptoms related to workstation design, an ergonomic mismatch between office furniture, and anthropometric measures among office staff

BackgroundThis study focuses on assessing the mismatch between office furniture and anthropometric measures among office staff and the impact of various workstation components on the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms.ObjectiveThe object of this study was to determine the appropriateness of the office furniture for their users in the office environments considering ergonomic principles.MethodsThe study sample consisted of 196 computer users with the office job. The prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms was assessed using a standard questionnaire. To determine risk factors of workstation related musculoskeletal symptoms, a quick strain evaluation method, Rapid Office Strain Assessment (ROSA), was used. Moreover, the appropriateness of office furniture and anthropometric dimensions of office staff were evaluated based on defined equations.ResultsBased on the ROSA score, men have significantly more inappropriate workstations than women (p < 0.048) which is mainly caused by an inappropriate chair and monitor height. However, based on the evaluation of the anthropometric measures against the dimensions of office furniture, the most mismatch was seen among women (p < 0.05). Also, the most mismatch was calculated for seat height (SH), seat depth (SD), and seat backrest height (SBH).ConclusionsIn general, the results of this study showed that in many cases, office employee's work in ergonomically inappropriate workstations, and although different evaluation methods show differences between the conditions of their workstations, in general, both men and women work in poor ergonomic workstations. This emphasize the necessity of designing an ergonomic and adjustable workstation according to the anthropometric dimensions of computer users.