
Ergonomic Risks And Pathologies In The Professional Cleaning Sector
In the cleaning sector, musculoskeletal disorders are the main cause of sick leave. They are caused by carrying out activities with a high physical load generated by performing repetitive tasks and adopting forced postures with the application of force, leading to overexertion.
With the problem that in most cases the workers in this sector continue to perform the same cleaning tasks at home.
The main ergonomic risks to which workers in the cleaning sector are exposed are:
• Repetitive tasks: A repetitive task is considered when the worker performs a group of continuous movements, maintained during a task that involves the same musculoskeletal system, causing muscle fatigue, overload, pain, and injury.
• Forced postures: These are work positions that mean that one or more parts of the body are no longer in a natural position of comfort and move to a forced or inadequate position that generates hyperextensions, hyperflexions, and hyperrotations of bones or joints.
• Overexertion: These are the consequences of excessive physiological demands in the development of mechanical force to carry out a certain work action. Overexertion involves a demand for force that exceeds what is considered an acceptable extreme and places the worker at intolerable risk levels.
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As a consequence of exposure to these risks, the pathologies that mainly affect workers in this sector are the following:
• Low back pain: this is a very common pathology among cleaning professionals and occurs as a consequence of adopting incorrect postures when carrying out tasks, such as sweeping, cleaning furniture, picking up heavy bags and objects.
• Carpal tunnel syndrome: this is one of the most common injuries resulting from cleaning tasks, which affects the nerves and tendons that control the fingers of the hands. Remaining with the wrist flexed for many hours exerts excessive pressure on the median nerve, causing the appearance of carpal tunnel syndrome that can lead to a lack of sensitivity in the fingers of the hand.
• Knee bursitis: This injury occurs when some bags, called bursae, become inflamed due to hyperfriction between the muscles, tendons and bones of the knee.
• Epicondylitis: This is an inflammation of the tendons of the extensor muscles of the wrist in the area of the epicondyle of the humerus and can be caused by performing repetitive movements.
Regarding the effects of injuries resulting from carrying out cleaning tasks, the ergonomic measures adopted by the company are of great importance, which are mainly:
• Selection of work elements
• Organisational measures
• Training
• Active ergonomics