38 Physical fitness assessment for preventing accident at work in energy industry workers

Introduction Physical fitness could be used to predict the prevalence of accident at work. It could be suggested that healthy employees suffer fewer accidents. The objective was to assess the level of physical fitness in employees working in the energy industry. Methods A cross-sectional study was designed. The study populations were employees who worked in an energy industry aged 19–60 years old. All participants were volunteers and they successfully attended all of the tests; 117 employees were asked to perform sit and reach test, handgrip strength and leg strength test, skinfold measurement. Body height and weight were measured to evaluate body mass index. Descriptive analysis was applied in the study for the overall results. The comparison of physical fitness levels in each age range and job characteristic were determined by one-way ANOVA. Result Employees showed high levels of muscle flexibility and muscle strength but not in terms of body composition. Female employees presented BMI values in a healthy range but most employees showed overweight, obesity class I and class II. Employees at age range 40–49 years old showed high capacity of muscle strength and flexibility, employees at age 20–29 years old presented a higher percentage of very poor physical fitness levels compared to the higher age groups. Discussion Most of the participants presented great muscle strength and flexibility. However, the employees presented high percentage body fat and high BMI than average and needed to improve. Employers should develop health promotion programmes for those with poor body composition which also encourage the maintenance of muscle strength and flexibility.