OBJECTIVETo study the prevalence of occupational musculoskeletal disorders (OMSDs) in a shipyard and explore the relationship between type of work, age, length of service and OMSDs by cross sectional epidemiological survey.

METHODS1570 workers from a shipyard were selected as survey objects, and a revised Northern Europe Standardized Questionnaire was used to investigate OMSDs. 253 technicians and clerks in the shipyard were selected as controls.

RESULTSOMSDs in these workers primarily located in waist, neck and shoulder, prevalence were 58.0%, 54.6% and 44.3% respectively; There were significant differences among workers of different types of work (P < 0.05) in prevalence and the cumulative parts number of OMSDs. The control group in this study also showed a higher prevalence of neck, shoulder and waist OMSDs. Female workers had higher prevalence of OMSDs in neck and shoulder compared with male workers (P < 0.05). As well there was significant correlation between age and OMSDs prevalence except the wrist and ankle disorders (P < 0.05), OMSDs prevalence increased with years. In addition, there was correlation between length of service and OMSDs prevalence, the group of ≤ 5 years had the lowest prevalence and the prevalence of low-back, neck and shoulder increased with service years.

CONCLUSIONThe OMSDs in workers engaged in shipyard are serious, the length of service, age, gender and type of work seem to be the risk factors, and it seems reasonable that the ergonomics intervention in the above aspects should be necessary for the prevention of OMSDs.