Abstract
A research project was conducted to study work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) at subway train repair plant in Korea. The project was consisted of 4 main parts; education on the topics of MSDs for all workers, symptom survey, medical check-up, investigation of MSD risk factors. The result of symptom survey showed that 95.2% of the respondents complained pains on at least one part of the body. After cross-sectional analysis of various information and risk factors, 86.8% of respondents were considered as active health surveillance level 1 that require continuous monitoring on their symptoms and working conditions. And 57.1% of the respondents were considered as active health surveillance level 2 that needed medical check-ups for proper medical treatment. The analysis of occupational risk factors revealed that handling of heavy object (46.15%) and repeated awkward postures (46.15%) were two most contributing risk factors for the on-set of MSD at this work site followed by static strain (7.7%), and vibration and impact (3.8%). Medical examination was performed by an industrial medicine MD on 156 workers those considered as active health surveillance level 2. The result showed that 35 workers (20.7%) were considered as MSD patient group at severe level, and 68.6 workers (68.6%) were considered as moderate group and 18 workers (10.6%) were considered minor or normal group those have no symptom.