BACK DISORDER AND ERGONOMIC SURVEY AMONG NORTH AMERICAN RAILROAD ENGINEERS

Railroad engineers are exposed to whole-body vibration and sedentary postural stress while operating locomotives. A self-administered 200-item health survey was distributed nationwide to a randomly selected group of active railroad engineers (n = 2,546) and a comparison group (civil engineers; n = 798). The response rate was 47% for railroad engineers (n = 1,195) and 41% for controls (n = 323). Back pain lasting more than 1 day per week within the past year was reported by 75% of railroad engineers, whereas it was reported by 41% of the controls [crude odds ratio (OR) = 4.32; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 3.31 to 5.64]. In a logistic regression model, by adjusting for age, gender, race, smoking, and non-job-related vibration exposure, the adjusted OR was 4.24 (95% CI = 3.20 to 5.62). The adjusted OR for sciatic pain (a back condition with neurological complications) was 2.17 (95% CI = 1.33 to 3.56). The rates of neck and shoulder problems were also higher among railroad engineers. In conclusion, the surv...