Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Wood Sawmill Workers: A Systematic Review
Keywords:
Ergonomics, Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders, Sawmill workerAbstract
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are among the most common conditions encountered by employees in nearly all types of industrial factory settings. Sawmills are one of the industrial sectors with high risks due to the use of machinery. The working environment in sawmills includes dust, heat from machinery, and the wood drying process, which involves moisture or chemicals from wood preservative treatments. Employees are required to have specialized skills for their specific job functions. Therefore, this research systematically reviews was studied on employees working in sawmills that predominantly rely on manual labor, both in Thailand and internationally. The review utilizes data from the ScienceDirect® and Web of Science™ databases, covering publications from 2004 to 2024. Three key terms were used in the search: Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders, Musculoskeletal Disorders, and Sawmill. In the search for research articles related to the evaluation of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in sawmill employees, as well as other relevant studies on musculoskeletal disorders from work, a total of 47 articles from the ScienceDirect® database and 11 articles from the Web of Science™ database met the inclusion criteria. The study results indicate symptoms, main factors, contributing factors, causes affecting work-related musculoskeletal disorders, and utilizing ergonomic assessment tools. The study also proposed prevention methods and actions based on the principles of risk assessment in employee operations to achieve best practices. Consequently, it is recommended to conduct further studies on risk assessment of sawmill employees using ergonomic principles.
References
Kittijaruwattana J, Ratcha M, Tuprakay S, Surach A. A systematic review: using trends of ergonomic risk assessment tools. Health Sci J Thai. 2023;5(4):49-58.
Ezinne NE, Ekemiri KK, Nwanali Daniel MA. Occupational ocular injuries and utilization of eye protective devices among sawmill workers in the Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. Vision (Basel). 2021;5(4):60. https://doi.org/10.3390/vision5040060
Roll SC, Selhorst L, Evans KD. Contribution of positioning to work-related musculoskeletal discomfort in diagnostic medical sonographers. Work. 2014;47(2):253-60.
Uthman MMB, Folarori HS, Rotimi BF, Oloyede HK, Uthman AO. Utilization of personal protective equipment among sawmill workers in Ilorin metropolis, North-central Nigeria. Res J Health Sci. 2019;7:155-62.
Agu AP, Umeokonkwo CD, Nnabu RC, Odusanya OO. Health problems among sawmill workers in Abakaliki and workplace risk assessment. J Community Med Prim Health Care. 2016;28(2):1-10.
Qutubuddin SM, Hebbal SS, Kumar ACS. An ergonomic study of work related musculoskeletal disorder risks in Indian saw mills. IOSR J Mech Civ Eng. 2013;7:7-13.
McAtamney L, Nigel CE. RULA: a survey method for the investigation of work-related upper limb disorders. Appl Ergon. 1993;24(2):91-9.
Benos L, Tsaopoulos D, Bochtis D. A review on ergonomics in agriculture. Part I: manual operations. Appl Sci. 2020;10(6):1905.
Namwongsa S, Puntumetakul R, Neubert MS, Chaiklieng S, Boucaut R. Ergonomic risk assessment of smartphone users using the rapid upper limb assessment (RULA) tool. PLoS One. 2018;13(8):e0200091.
Schwartz AH, Albin TJ, Gerberich SG. Intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of the rapid entire body assessment (REBA) tool. Int J Ind Ergon. 2019;71:111-6.
Kee D, Na S, Chung MK. Comparison of the Ovako working posture analysis system, rapid upper limb assessment, and rapid entire body assessment based on the maximum holding times. Int J Ind Ergon. 2020;77:102943.
Lu ML, Putz-Anderson V, Garg A, Davis KG. Evaluation of the impact of the revised National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health lifting equation. Hum Factors. 2016;58(5):667-82.
Gómez-Galán M, Pérez-Alonso J, Callejón-Ferre ÁJ, López-Martínez J. Musculoskeletal disorders: OWAS review. Ind Health. 2017;55(4):314-37.
Sharma DB, Shah UM, Singh US. Epidemiological correlates of well-being at workplace and hazards identification and risk assessment amongst sawmill workers in Anand, Gujarat. Indian J Occup Environ Med. 2021;25:152-6.
Das B. Adverse health effects and perceived musculoskeletal pain in the sawmill workers of West Bengal, India. Toxicol Ind Health. 2024;40(1-2):9-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/07482337231210331
Rahaman MS, Khan AH, Rahaman MS, Biswas B. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders: a case study of sawmill workers in Bangladesh. Curr World Environ. 2019;14(2):336-45.
Jones T, Kumar S. Comparison of ergonomic risk assessment output in four sawmill jobs. Int J Occup Saf Ergon. 2010;16(1):105-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/10803548.2010.11076834
Ajayeoba AO. Risk, postural and physical strain assessment of sawmill workers in Nigeria. Int J Eng Res Afr. 2019;45:74-88.
Chandra AM, Ghosh S, Barman S, Dev S, Gangopadhyay S. An ergonomic study on musculoskeletal health hazards among sawmill workers of West Bengal, India. J Hum Ergol. 2011;40(1-2):1-10.
Mitchual SJ, Donkoh M, Bih F. Assessment of safety practices and injuries associated with wood processing in a timber company in Ghana. Open J Saf Sci Technol. 2015;5(1):P10.
Azmi U, Azmi T. Study of occupational health hazards in sawmill workers in central India. Int J Adv Med. 2020;7(4):661-5.
Awosan KJ, Ibrahim M, Yunusa EU, Isah BA, Ango UM, Michael A. Knowledge of workplace hazards, safety practices and prevalence of workplace-related health problems among sawmill workers in Sokoto, Nigeria. Int J Contemp Med Res. 2018;5(10):J5-12.
Adhikari S, Ozarska B. Minimizing environmental impacts of timber products through the production process “from sawmill to final products.” Environ Syst Res. 2018;7:6.
Michael JH, Wiedenbeck JK. Safety in the wood products industry. For Prod J. 2004;54:10-4.
Bamidele JO, Adebimpe WO, Dairo MD. Pattern of hand injuries among sawmill workers in Osogbo, Southwestern Nigeria. Niger Q J Hosp Med. 2011;21(1):64-9.
Dickinson CE, Campion K, Foster AF, Newman SJ, O'Rourke AM, Thomas PG. Questionnaire development: an examination of the Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire. Appl Ergon. 1992;23:197-201.
Agbana BE, Joshua AO, Daikwo MA, Metiboba LO. Knowledge of occupational hazards among sawmill workers in Kwara State, Nigeria. Niger Postgrad Med J. 2016;23(1):25-32. https://doi.org/10.4103/1117-1936.180176
Workers DC, Hussen J, Dagne H, Yenealem DG. Factors associated with occupational injury among hydropower dam construction workers, South East Ethiopia, 2018. Biomed Res Int. 2020;2020:1-8.
Opoku FA, Opoku DA, Ayisi-Boateng NK, Osarfo J, Sulemana A, Agyemang S, et al. Occupational injury prevalence and predictors among small-scale sawmill workers in the Sokoban Wood Village, Kumasi, Ghana. PLoS One. 2024;19(4):e0298954.
Job E, Joh GHA. The state of industrial accidents in wood workshops and sawmills: the case of the Western Region of Ghana. Int J Eng Manag Res. 2016;4:102-14.
Das B. Effects of awkward posture on work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) among sawmill workers in India. J Occup Health Epidemiol. 2020;9(3):158-66.
Vadivel S, Subramaniyan C, Muthukumar K, Bharani T. Ergonomics hazards and risk assessment for the sawmill operations. Mater Today Proc. 2022;66:717-24.
Soranso DR, Minette LJ, Lima RCA, Schettino S, Nascimento GSP, Bermudes WL, Costa Campos JC. Biomechanical analysis of wood processing work in tropical forest regions: a study in Midwest Brazil. J Occup Environ Hyg. 2023;20(10):452-9.
Ng CL, Reaz MBI, Crespo ML, Cicuttin A, Chowdhury MEH. Characterization of capacitive electromyography biomedical sensor insulated with porous medical bandages. Sci Rep. 2020;10(1):14891.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 KKU Research Journal (Graduate Studies)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
