Musculoskeletal symptoms are prevalent in single and multiple body regions among manual handling workers. The perceived risk of injury is significantly associated with musculoskeletal symptoms in eight body regions.

A combination of archival, subjective, and observational field data collection methods were used to investigate the relationship between biomechanical and postural stresses, and the resulting physical strain experienced by industrial workers of a packaging plant. Assessment of physical strain was based on the number and incidence rate of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)-reportable injuries that were recorded over a period of 27 months, and based on the self-reported ratings of perceived body discomfort. Both the biomechanical and postural stresses correlated with the musculoskeletal injury rate. The results illustrate the usefulness of postural and biomechanical analyses for assessing the risk of injury in industry.

In this study, a survey instrument was developed to measure safety climate. A review of the scientific literature as well as consultation with an expert panel was used to determine the survey's dimensions. Next, the survey was administered, first as a pilot study (n = 15) and then as a full scale study (n = 229), to employees of the City of Cincinnati Department of Public Works. The psychometric integrity of the survey was assessed according to validity, reliability and utility criteria. Results are presented and discussed.

The main objective of this study was to evaluate different scales of perceived strain during the performance of various physical tasks. A total of 52 male and female participants took part in 4 experiments to achieve the study objective. The results suggest that a bipolar comfort-discomfort scale is a more appropriate instrument than a discomfort scale for assessing cumulative physical stresses at work, especially at the beginning of the shift. For assessing discomfort at the end of the work shift, a unipolar scale may also be used. On the basis of the obtained results, red, green, and yellow zones are suggested to establish priorities for work redesign efforts in ergonomic control programs.

This article documents the need to establish a safety engineering management program in the Arabian Gulf Region, particularly in the Gulf Cooperative Countries (GCCs)-Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman. Freidman's nonparametric statistical analysis of variance was used to analyze ranks of preferences for safety engineering graduate degrees and programs in the 6 GCCs. On the basis of the findings, manufacturing companies in different countries prefer distinctive safety engineering systems ( x 2 ϭ 31.72, df ϭ 5, p ϭ Ͻ .05).