Personnel's Health Surveillance at Work: Effect of Age, Body Mass Index, and Shift Work on Mental Workload and Work Ability Index

Abstract

Introduction. Two great changes in developed countries are taking place: populations are ageing and becoming increasingly overweight. Combination of these factors with shift work is a risk factor for work ability and mental workload that are dynamic processes which change greatly throughout an individual's work life. The aim of this study was to investigate mental workload and work ability in textile workers and to identify factors which affect work ability and mental workload. Methods. This cross-sectional study was carried out among 194 male workers in textile industry. Employees based on their job group and work conditions have been divided into 6 categories. They completed work ability index and mental workload questionnaires during three work shifts. Body mass index (BMI) and demographic details were recorded. Results. All of the participants rated their work ability as moderate with high mental workload. The mean WAI and mental workload in age group were significant. The mean BMI was 25.5 kg/m2 (standard deviation 4.1) and the mean age was 40.22 years. There was a statistically significant correlation between work ability index and shift work. Conclusions. Unlike the previous study, a decrease point in WAI started in early age that may be due to life-style work and another psychological factor; on the other hand, NASA-TLX revealed high score in six subscales that can be another reason for low WAI.

Work Ability of the Personnel of a Petrochemical Company and the Relationship Between Age and Physical Activities

“…between the mean age and work ability; this finding was in line with the results of studies by Kloimuller et al (21) and Safari et al (16). Classification of WAI in Ilmarinen's study was appropriate for people aged more than 45 years.…”

“…To justify this mechanism, it might be said that after the age of 40 people face decreased aerobic capacity and consequently they have reduced work ability (16). The effect of age on work ability also depends on the nature of the job.…”

“…The questionnaire was first developed by professor Ilmarinen, a member of FIOH (10,14). The reliability and validity of the Persian version of the questionnaire in Iran was tested and verified by Mazloumi et al (15). The WAI contains seven different domains.…”

Sickness Absence at Work and Supporting Being Present At Work, Among Employees Working Different Shifts in the Forest Industry

“…In a review study, Saksvik et al (2011) showed that adaptation to shift work was related to characteristics of the individual; for example, young age, male gender, high scores for flexibility and extraversion were association with higher shift work tolerance [14]. Prospective cohort and cross-sectional studies have shown that shift work is also associated with sickness absence and work ability [12,[15][16][17][18].…”

“…The research results on the links between different shift work schedules and sickness absences ranging from strong connection [12,15,[18][19][20] and or no links [16,17]. In addition, previous studies have focused more on health care workers [16][17][21][22] to the relative neglect of the industrial sector [ 8,18].…”