MUSCULOSKELETAL PROBLEMS AND DRIVING IN POLICE OFFICERS

The Occupational Health Department of a rural police force in the UK h ad concerns regarding sickness absence levels due to musculoskeletal p roblems, particularly in officers who drove as part of their job. It w as decided to conduct an interview survey comparing two groups of poli ce officers with differing levels of Exposure to driving, recording si ckness absence and prevalence data related due to musculoskeletal trou bles. The results indicate that exposure to car driving, both in terms of distance and hours driven, had a significant effect on self-report ed low back trouble. Officers whose job mainly involved driving also e xperienced more low back trouble over the last 12 months than those wh ose job primarily involved sitting (not driving), standing and lifting tasks. Police motorcyclists had significantly higher prevalence figur es for reported shoulder trouble than police car drivers.