Frequency and Risk Factors for the Occurrence of Work Related Musculoskeletal Disorders among Slaughter House Workers in Nairobi County

Abstract

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders describe a wide range of inflammatory and degenerative disorders and diseases such as metacarpal syndrome, tenosynovitis, tendonitis, fasciitis, epicondilytis, shoulder impingement syndrome among others, resulting in pain and functional impairment. The main objective of this study was to determine the frequency and risk factors for the occurrence of work related muscular disorders among slaughter house workers in Nairobi County. The study adopted a cross sectional descriptive design. Cluster sampling was used to select a sample of 155 workers from the selected slaughter houses within Nairobi County. Oral interviews, questionnaires and observational methods were used to collect both qualitative and quantitative which was analysed using SPSS version 20. Data was analysed using chi square test for association. The study results showed that majority of the workers (82.4% n=128) experienced pain in one or more parts of the body. Frequency of neck pain stood at 15% (19), wrist and hand pain at 29.6% (38), shoulder pain at 51% (65), hips and thigh pain at 2% (3). Risk factors were identified as lack of breaks during working hours, working for long hours, working posture and change of duty after sick off. There is a high prevalence of work related musculoskeletal pain associated with development of musculoskeletal disorders among slaughter house workers in Nairobi County. The slaughter houses management should restrict the number of working hours to 8 hours in any working day.

Key words: Risk Factors, Occurrence, prevalence, Nairobi County, pain, slaughter house, MSDs