ACTIVE SURVEILLANCE FOR THE CONTROL OF CUMULATIVE TRAUMA DISORDERS - A WORKING MODEL IN THE NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY

Health and risk factor surveillance is a critical aspect of an effecti ve ergonomics process. Physical therapists are becoming increasingly i nvolved in many components of the ergonomics process, including health and risk factor surveillance. The purpose of this study was to develo p and implement a multistaged active surveillance program for the mana gement and control of cumulative trauma disorders. The surveillance pr ogram was established at three newspaper companies consisting of 1, 15 0 employees. This study focused on the first three stages of the multi stage surveillance model, which incorporates the use of symptom and jo b factor questionnaires, specific anatomical surveys, and clinical det ection tests. The results of the study indicated that 1) musculoskelet al symptoms in the back, neck, and hands accounted for the majority of reported missed work among the newspaper workers; 2) production worke rs had a higher prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms than office wor kers; and 3) the prevalence of probable carpal tunnel syndrome among t he newspaper workers was 1.5%.