Citation

Turja J, Kaleva S, Kivistö M, Seitsamo J. Work 2012; 41: 809-811.

Affiliation

Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Topeliuksenkatu 41 aA, 00250 Helsinki, Finland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, IOS Press)

DOI

10.3233/WOR-2012-0245-809

PMID

22316820

Abstract

The purpose of the controlled longitudinal study was to determine the effect of a tailored early support intervention method on workers' workplace ergonomics. The main areas of the early support intervention were training, guidance and support for supervisors in finding weak signals of impaired ergonomics. Supervisors were also trained to bring up these weak signals in discussion with employees and to make necessary changes at the workplaceThe data consisted of 301 intervention subjects and 235 control subjects working in the field of commerce. The questionnaires were carried out in 2008 and in 2010, and the response rates among both groups were 45%. We used multivariate repeated measures analysis of variance (MANOVA) to test the difference in the groups at two points of time. The main result was that in the areas of work environment, the interaction between group and time was statistically significant (p=0.0004). The work environment improved in the intervention group, but deteriorated in the control. Working methods improved due to the interventions, but physical load factors increased over time in both groups. According to the study, tailored early support intervention has a generally beneficial impact on workers' workplace ergonomics in the areas of work methods, work environment and accident factors.

Language: en