Forms of work organization and associations with shoulder disorders: Results from a French working population. (March 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bodin, Julie; Garlantézec, Ronan; Costet, Nathalie; Descatha, Alexis; Fouquet, Natacha; Caroly, Sandrine; Roquelaure, Yves
• Is Part Of: Applied ergonomics. Volume 59:Part A(2017)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 10
• Publication Date: 2017-03
• Subjects: Work organization -- Classification -- Shoulder disorders; Human engineering -- Periodicals; 620.82
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apergo.2016.07.019
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0003-6870

Abstract

Abstract: The aim of this study was to identify forms of work organization in a French region and to study associations with the occurrence of symptomatic and clinically diagnosed shoulder disorders in workers. Workers were randomly included in this cross-sectional study from 2002 to 2005. Sixteen organizational variables were assessed by a self-administered questionnaire: i.e. shift work, job rotation, repetitiveness of tasks, paced work/automatic rate, work pace dependent on quantified targets, permanent controls or surveillance, colleagues' work and customer demand, and eight variables measuring decision latitude. Five forms of work organization were identified using hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) of variables and HCA of workers: low decision latitude with pace constraints, medium decision latitude with pace constraints, low decision latitude with low pace constraints, high decision latitude with pace constraints and high decision latitude with low pace constraints . There were significant associations between forms of work organization and symptomatic and clinically-diagnosed shoulder disorders. Highlights: We identified five forms of work organization characteristics among workers. We studied their associations with the prevalence of shoulder disorders. Workers with high organizational constraints had more shoulder disorders.