The effect of individual job coaching and use of health threat in a job-specific occupational health education program on prevention of work-related musculoskeletal back injury

Objective: To examine the effect of individual job coaching and use of health threat in a job-specific occupational health education program in preventing work-related musculoskeletal back injuries during manual materials handling in construction laborers. Methods: Two hundred five laborers were recruited by 3-stage cluster sampling process and randomly assigned to receive different education programs on manual materials handling. Control group was given a conventional program, whereas experimental group received a job-specific program. Results: A statistically significant group difference was found in the knowledge and practical skills on manual materials handling after training (P < 0.0001). Furthermore, the results from 1-year cumulative incidence revealed a significantly lesser number of first-time reports of work-related musculoskeletal back injuries in the experimental group. Conclusions: These results indicate that job-specific education is an effective preventive strategy for work-related musculoskeletal back injury.