Postural Analysis Among Machinists Experiencing Workrelated Musculoskeletal Disorders in the Philippines Workrelated musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) in the Philippines has become an ordeal in the manufacturing industry. WMSDs are injuries in both muscle and skeletal systems of the body caused by repetitive tasks, prolonged and strenuous range of actions done by most people. Workers experiencing various WMSDs are associated with increased absenteeism, less productivity, and physical and psychological stress. The study aims to identify and analyze statistically significant variables contributing to workrelated musculoskeletal disorders, particularly postural related considerations in the lower back, experienced by machinists in a steel manufacturing company. Through correlation and multiple regression analysis, results showed that Height (pvalue  0.001), Weight (pvalue  0.001), Noise (pvalue  0.000), Temperature (pvalue  0.002), Load Weight (pvalue  0.014), BMI (pvalue  0.047), Sleep Quality (pvalue  0.044) and Workload (pvalue  0.007) contributes to the WMSDs experienced by the machinists. Recommendations such as medical examinations, workeru0027s education in the use of PPEs, suitable ventilations, adequate working space, and workeru0027s physical fitness is expected to minimize the risk of WMSDs among workers.

A MultiParametric Wearable System to Monitor Neck Movements and Respiratory Frequency of Computer Workers Musculoskeletal disorders are the most common form of occupational illhealth. Neck pain is one of the most prevalent musculoskeletal disorders experienced by computer workers. Wrong postural habits and noncompliance of the workstation to ergonomics guidelines are the leading causes of neck pain. These factors may also alter respiratory functions. Health and safety interventions can reduce neck pain and, more generally, the symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders and reduce the consequent economic burden. In this work, a multiparametric wearable system based on two fiber Bragg grating sensors is proposed for monitoring neck movements and breathing activity of computer workers. The sensing elements were positioned on the neck, in the frontal and sagittal planes, to monitor: (i) flexionextension and axial rotation repetitions, and (ii) respiratory frequency. In this pilot study, five volunteers were enrolled and performed five repetitions of both flexionextension and axial rotation, and ten breaths of both quite breathing and tachypnea. Results showed the good performances of the proposed system in monitoring the aforementioned parameters when compared to optical reference systems. The wearable system is able to wellmatch the trend in time of the neck movements (both flexionextension and axial rotation) and to estimate mean and breathbybreath respiratory frequency values with percentage errors xe2x89xa46.09% and xe2x89xa41.90%, during quiet breathing and tachypnea, respectively.