Musculoskeletal disorders of refuse collectors emptying litter bins which are housed inside street furniture

The purpose of the paper is to identify and analyse potential Workplace Musculoskeletal Disorders for workers collecting refuse from litter bins, and test the hypothesis that "A low entry vehicle will significantly reduce the incidence of Workplace Musculoskeletal Disorders experienced by refuse collection workers". A small cohort of refuse collection workers employed by Local Government participated in the study. Refuse worker's shoulder and lower back regions were identified in the literature review as high risk areas for developing Workplace Musculoskeletal Disorders. This finding was supported by the results of the Nordic Questionnaire. The quick ergonomics assessment tools Rapid Entire Body Assessment and the Manual Tasks Risk Assessment identified the leg, arm and back regions as being the body areas most at risk of developing Workplace Musculoskeletal Disorders. The Manual Tasks Risk Assessment also identified the shoulder area as being at risk. The worker entering and exiting the driver's cabin of the garbage truck was identified as the task with the highest risk of developing Workplace Musculoskeletal Disorders.