Preventive Effects on Low Back Pain and Occupational Injuries by Providing the Participatory Occupational Safety and Health Program

BACKGROUND Musculoskeletal symptoms, such as neck and shoulder pain and stiffness and low back pain, are common health problems in the working population. They are the leading causes of presenteeism (employees being physically present at work but unable to be fully engaged). However, current medical systems do not spare sufficient resources for non-specific musculoskeletal problems. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to evaluate the improvements in musculoskeletal symptoms after use of an exercise-based artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted interactive health promotion system that operates through a mobile messaging app (the AI-assisted health program). METHODS We conducted a two-armed, randomized, controlled, and unblinded trial in workers with neck/shoulder stiffness and/or low back pain. We recruited participants with these symptoms through email notifications. We obtained 48 participants in the intervention group and 46 in the control group. The intervention group received the AI-assisted health program, in which the chatbot sent messages to users with the exercise instructions at a fixed time every day through the smart phone’s chatting app (LINE) for 12 weeks. The exercises could be performed within 1 minute. The control group continued with their usual care routines, which included exercising for 3 minutes at recess time provided by the company to prevent stiff shoulders and back pain. We assessed the subjective severities of the neck and shoulder pain/stiffness and low back pain in participants using a scoring scale of 1 to 5 for both the intervention and the control group at baseline and after 12 weeks of intervention using an online form. RESULTS We analyzed 47 patients in the intervention group and 40 in the control group. The participants in the intervention group showed significant improvements in the severities of the neck/shoulder pain/stiffness and low back pain compared to those in the control group (OR 12.74, P <.001). Based on the subjective assessment of the improvement of the pain/stiffness at 12 weeks, 36 (77%) participants in the intervention group and 3 (8%) in the control group had improved (improved, slightly improved) (OR 54.23, P <.001). CONCLUSIONS This study showed that the short exercises provided by the AI-assisted health program improved both neck/shoulder pain/stiffness and low back pain in 12 weeks. Digital health programs are low cost and safe and can save experts’ working hours and labor costs. Further studies are needed to identify the elements of the AI-assisted health program that worked. CLINICALTRIAL University hospital Medical Information Network-Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN-CTR) 000033894; https://upload.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/ctr_e/ctr_view.cgi?recptno=R000038307.

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Regulation by Shaming: Deterrence Effects of Publicizing Violations of Workplace Safety and Health Laws

The American Economic Review ◽

10.1257/aer.20180501 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 110 (6) ◽

pp. 1866-1904 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Matthew S. Johnson

Keyword(s):

Occupational Safety ◽

Occupational Injuries ◽

Workplace Safety ◽

Occupational Safety And Health ◽

Health Administration ◽

Press Releases ◽

Safety And Health ◽

Improve Compliance ◽

Health Laws ◽

Health Regulations

Publicizing firms’ socially undesirable actions may enhance firms’ incentives to avoid such actions. In 2009, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) began issuing press releases about facilities that violated safety and health regulations. Using quasi-random variation arising from a cutoff rule OSHA followed, I find that publicizing a facility’s violations led other facilities to substantially improve their compliance and experience fewer occupational injuries. OSHA would need to conduct 210 additional inspections to achieve the same improvement in compliance as achieved with a single press release. Evidence suggests that employers improve compliance to avoid costly responses from workers. (JEL J28, J81, K32, L51, M54)

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Guidelines for an Occupational Safety and Health Program

AAOHN Journal ◽

10.1177/216507998903700601 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 37 (6) ◽

pp. 205-214 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Rebecca S. Stanevich ◽

Ronald L. Stanevich

Keyword(s):

Health Program ◽

Occupational Safety ◽

Occupational Safety And Health ◽

Safety And Health

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Workers' health and enterprises profits: Evidence from an occupational safety and health program in manufacturing enterprises

AEA Randomized Controlled Trials ◽

10.1257/rct.644 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Niels Kemper

Keyword(s):

Health Program ◽

Occupational Safety ◽

Occupational Safety And Health ◽

Manufacturing Enterprises ◽

Safety And Health

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Prevalence and factors associated with low back pain among nurses at a regional hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Health SA Gesondheid ◽

10.4102/hsag.v23i0.1082 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 23 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Thembelihle Dlungwane ◽

Anna Voce ◽

Stephen Knight

Keyword(s):

Low Back Pain ◽

Back Pain ◽

Occupational Injuries ◽

Public Health Problem ◽

Regional Hospital ◽

Low Back ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Related Disorder ◽

Factors Associated ◽

Clinical Records

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is a public health problem worldwide and is a common cause of work-related disorder among workers, especially in the nursing profession. Recruitment and retention of nurses is a challenge, and the nursing shortage has been exacerbated by the burden of occupational injuries such as LBP and related disabilities. The physiotherapy clinical records revealed that caseload of nurses presenting for the management of LBP was increasing. The prevalence and factors associated with LBP were unclear.Methods: A cross-sectional study design with an analytic component was implemented. Data were collected utilising a self-administered questionnaire to determine the prevalence and factors associated with LBP among nurses at a regional hospital. Bivariate analyses were performed to determine the factors associated with LBP.Results: The point prevalence of current LBP in nurses was 59%. The highest prevalence was recorded among enrolled nurses (54%), respondents aged 30–39 (46%), overweight respondents (58%) and those working in obstetrics and gynaecology (49%). Bending (p = 0.002), prolonged position (p = 0.03) and transferring patients (p = 0.004) were strongly associated with LBP. Nurses with more than 20 years in the profession reported a high prevalence of LBP. The prevalence of LBP was higher among the participants who were on six-month rotations (76%) compared with those on yearly rotation (16%).Conclusion: A high proportion of nurses reported to have LBP. Occupational factors are strongly associated with LBP. Education programmes on prevention and workplace interventions are required in order to reduce occupational injuries.

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LOW BACK PAIN IN ICU AND EMERGENCY UNIT NURSES AT SARI MUTIARA GENERAL HOSPITAL MEDAN

INDONESIAN NURSING JOURNAL OF EDUCATION AND CLINIC (INJEC) ◽

10.24990/injec.v2i2.39 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 246

Author(s):

Amila Amila ◽

Evarina Sembiring ◽

Rinco Siregar

Keyword(s):

Body Mass Index ◽

Low Back Pain ◽

Back Pain ◽

General Hospital ◽

Body Mass ◽

Occupational Safety ◽

High Mobility ◽

Low Back ◽

Emergency Unit ◽

Cross Sectional

Introduction. The nurses who works at Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Emergency Unit often suffering Low Back Pain (LBP) because they have high mobility and unergonomic condition. The purpose of this study were to identify the correlation among age, body mass index and working position of nurses with the low back pain who work in ICU and emergency unit at Sari Mutiara Indonesia general hospital. Methods. The data obtained was analyzed by analytic correlational with cross-sectional approach. The Sampel of this study was recruited with total sampling as 31 nurses. The data was analyzed by spearman correlation with α = 0.05. Result. The result of this study found that there was a signifi cant correlation between age with low back pain (r = 0.466 ; p <0.05). While body mass index and working position there was no signifi cantly correlation with low back pain ( r=0.195; p > 0.05 and r = - 0.172;p >0.05), respectively. Discussion. It can be recommended to occupational safety team to organize training the manner of working according to ergonomic standard, in addition to develope standar operating procedure for nurses in the hospital.Keywords : Risk factors, low back pain, nurse

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