Skip Navigation


Occupational Medicine Advance Access originally published online on January 16, 2007
Occupational Medicine 2007 57(2):112-117; doi:10.1093/occmed/kql154
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
57/2/112    most recent
kql154v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Morken, T.
Right arrow Articles by Moen, B. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Morken, T.
Right arrow Articles by Moen, B. E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders in Norway's offshore petroleum industry

Tone Morken1, Ingrid Sivesind Mehlum2 and Bente E. Moen1

1 Section for Occupational Medicine, Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
2 Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, National Institute of Occupational Health, Oslo, Norway

Background Since 1992, physicians have reported work-related diseases among workers in Norway's offshore petroleum industry to the Petroleum Safety Authority, as required by law.

Aims To analyse the number of reported work-related musculoskeletal disorders and risk factors (occupation and reported exposure) from 1992 to 2003.

Methods Data from the Petroleum Safety Authority's registry of work-related diseases were analysed.

Results During the 12 years, 3131 new work-related musculoskeletal disorders were reported and this was the category of work-related disease most frequently reported (47%). The number of work-related musculoskeletal disorders varied substantially from year to year. Disorders of the upper limb accounted for 53% and back disorders for 20% of all work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Lower limb disorders accounted for 16%, of which knee disorders dominated (12% of all cases). The dominant occupational categories were maintenance work (40%) and catering (21%). Frequently reported types of exposure were high physical workload, repetitive work and walking on hard surfaces/climbing stairs and ladders.

Conclusion Strategies for preventing musculoskeletal disorders should be carried out to reduce the burden of high physical workload and repetitive work, especially in maintenance work and catering. Further research is recommended on the association between walking on hard surfaces/climbing stairs and ladders and knee disorders. Reporting routines need to be improved to monitor trends over time and to assess the effects of interventions.

Keywords      Exposure; musculoskeletal disorders; occupational; petroleum industry

Correspondence to: Tone Morken, Section for Occupational Medicine, Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, University of Bergen, Kalfarveien 31, Bergen 5063, Norway. Tel: +47 55 58 61 02; fax: +47 55 58 61 05; e-mail: tone.morken{at}isf.uib.no


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.