Job Seniority and Time of Daily Exposure to Biomechanical Risk Factors in Claims of Work-Related Upper Limb Musculoskeletal Disorders in Chile

摘要

Since March 2016 in Chile, the Workplace Assessment Tool (WAT) has been used in order to provide the professional disease qualification process with elements that ensure greater objectivity. Six WAT formats were developed according to upper limb segment or pathology: shoulder, elbow, wrist, carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), thumb and fingers. This tool collects information about the worker, seniority and time of exposure to risks during the workday. At the international level, no consensus has been reached regarding the development times of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. The objective of this study was to estimate the relationship between seniority, daily exposure during working hours and biomechanical risk factors. Daily exposure presented an average of 435 min (SD= 84), without significant differences when analyzing according to the segment evaluated. Seniority presented significant values for the Wrist and CTS segment (X~2= 59.25, df= 25, P= 0.00). In addition, for the Wrist segment, a positive difference was generated in the range of less than 6 months old, in the presence of two risk factors (X~2= 36.314, df= 15, P= 0.002). It is concluded that there is a relationship between seniority and the pathologies that affect the wrist segment, however this relationship with the rest of the segments is not fulfilled, with the exposure time in the day nor with the biomechanical risk factors.