Musculoskeletal disorders among canteen staff in a mining sector in Mali

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of MSDs and their risk factors among canteen staff. Methods: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted in March 2020 at the medical department of the mining site. It concerned all workers in the canteen at the mine site. They were submitted to the INRS TMS questionnaire 2000 (chapters 1 and 2). The variables collected were codified and analyzed using SPSS 20.0 software. The Khi2 test compared variables with a p<0,05 significance threshold. Results: The study included 31 workers or 100% of the canteen staff. The average age of workers was 34,49 years and the sex ratio was 1,38 in favour of men. Right-handers were the most dominant (90,32%). The average seniority in the job was 3,93 years. Most of them (90,32%) worked on a rotation of 2 teams per day. The majority (41,94%) of them considered the afternoon's work to be the most restrictive. In the last 12 months, 20 workers (64,51%) had had at least one MSD. Workers complained more about spine pain (with 12,90% for the neck and upper back and 35,48% for the lower back) and the right shoulder (22,58%) respectively. Factors associated with the occurrence of MSDs were: for the neck, having the afternoon as the most restrictive position (p=0,04) ; for the upper back, seniority at the workstation of less than 4 years (p=0,04) and at the end for the left shoulder, the female sex (p=0,03). Conclusion: This study identified a high prevalence of MSDs among canteen staff in the mining sector, particularly Lumbar spine and right shoulder MSDS and associated risk factors. Effective prevention requires action on all risk factors for MSDs.