Influence of gender on the prevalence of Rsi/WRULD in meat-packing plants

Abstract

This research aimed to determine the handgrip strength difference between (♂) and (♀) and its influence on the incidence of RSI / WRULD in meat-packing plants. The study had the participation of 201 workers from the bone sector of a pig slaughterhouse located in the municipality of Sao Miguel do Iguacu, state of Parana, Brazil, being 98 men and 103 women with mean age of 34.3 ( ± 4.7 years) and weight of 66.3 (± 6.5 kg) for (♀) and 36.5 (± 6.4 years) and weight of 77.6 (± 5.8 kg) for (♂). Handgrip strength was used in the evaluation. Descriptive statistics and "t" test were applied, with significance level of 0.05% for strength test and percentage of pain levels. The results were presented according to gender (♂) 44.94 kgf (± 4.51) for the dominant hand (DH) and 41.09 kgf (± 4.09) for the non-dominant hand (NDH), and for males (♀), the average was 29.20 kgf (± 2.20) for DH and 28.40 kgf (± 2.39) for NDH. Statistical analysis indicated a "t" greater than 0.05 with 3.49% for DH and 2.95 for NDH, showing that (♂) and (♀) have strength levels significantly different in both hands and this study indicated that females have 35% less strength in the DH and 30.8% in the NDH. With regard to pain symptoms, pain for (♀) was higher than for (♂), with 21.5% in the shoulder region, 25% in neck, 48% in the column, 48.7% and in the arms and 48.8% in wrists and hands. It could be concluded that (♀) have less strength and higher percentage of pain in relation to (♂) when exposed to repetitive work and with identical tasks. Thus, it becomes clear that to avoid RSI / WRULD in meat-packing plants, companies should use knowledge on ergonomics in order to provide a work environment that respects the physiological differences between males and females. © 2012 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.