Computers & Industrial Engineering 47 (2004) 223–232

www.elsevier.com/locate/dsw

Ergonomics, and occupational health and safety in the

oil industry: a managers’ response*
Ashraf A. Shikdara,*, Naseem M. Sawaqedb
a
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 33,
Al-Khod 123, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mutah University, Amman, Jordan
Received 7 October 2003; accepted 13 July 2004
Available online 12 September 2004

Abstract
The main objective of this research was to investigate ergonomics, occupational health and safety problems of
an oil industry in a developing country. Fifty-six industrial unit managers participated in the study. Forty-eight
percent of the managers received worker complaints of back pain, 36% of fatigue, 32% of upper-body pain, 48% of
stress and 46% of dissatisfaction. Fifty-seven percent of the managers reported a hot environment, 36% a noisy
environment, and 41% a lack of resources and facilities. Sixty-two percent had no knowledge or access to
ergonomics information, while 64% of the managers did not carry out an ergonomic assessment of their units. A
significant correlation (p!0.01) was found among ergonomics and safety indicators and average injury rates. Lack
of skills in ergonomics, communication and resources are believed to be some of the major factors contributing to
the poor ergonomic conditions and consequent increase in health and safety problems in this industry.
q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Ergonomics; Occupational health and safety; Environmental conditions

1. Introduction

Improving worker productivity, and occupational health and safety (OHS) are major concerns in
industry, especially in developing countries. Some of the common problems are improper workplace
design, ill-structured jobs, mismatch between worker abilities and job demands, adverse environment,

*
This manuscript was processed by Area Editor M.M. Ayoub.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: C968-515-352; fax: C968-513-416.
E-mail address: ashraf1@squ.edu.om (A.A. Shikdar).
0360-8352/$ - see front matter q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.cie.2004.07.004
224 A.A. Shikdar, N.M. Sawaqed / Computers & Industrial Engineering 47 (2004) 223–232

poor human–machine system design and inappropriate management programs. This leads to workplace
hazards, poor workers’ health, mechanical equipment injuries, disabilities, and in turn reduces worker
productivity and product/work quality, and increases cost. Ergonomics or human factors application has
been found to improve worker productivity, occupational health, safety and satisfaction. This has both
direct and indirect effects on overall performance. It would, therefore, be extremely difficult to attain a
company’ objectives without giving proper consideration to ergonomics.
Effective application of ergonomics in work system design can achieve a balance between worker
characteristics and task demands. This can enhance worker productivity, provide worker safety and
physical and mental well being, and job satisfaction. Many studies have shown positive effects of
applying ergonomic principles to the workplace, in machine design, in job design, and in environment
and facilities design (Burri & Helander, 1991; Das, 1987; Das & Sengupta, 1996; Das & Shikdar, 1999;
Hasselquist, 1981; Resnick & Zanotti, 1997; Ryan, 1989; Schanauber, 1986; Shikdar & Das, 1995).
Studies in ergonomics have also produced data and guidelines for industrial applications. The features of
ergonomic design of machines, workstations, facilities are well known (Chapanis, 1979; Das & Grady,
1983; Grandjean, 1988; Konz, 1995; McLeod, 1995; Melamed, Luz, Najemson, Jucha, & Green, 1989;
Murrel, 1965; Ryan, 1987; Salvendy, 1987; Sanders & McCormick, 1992; Wilson & Corlett, 1992).
However, there is still a low level of acceptance and limited application in industry. The main concern of
work system design is usually the improvement of machines and tools. Inadequate or no consideration is
given to the work system as a whole. Therefore, poorly designed work systems are common place in
industry (Das, 1987; Konz, 1995). Neglect of ergonomic principles brings inefficiency and pain to the
workforce. An ergonomically deficient workplace can cause physical and emotional stress, low
productivity and poor quality of work (Ayoub, 1990a,b).
It is believed that ergonomic deficiencies in industry are a root cause of workplace health
hazards, low levels of safety, and reduced worker productivity and quality. Although ergonomics
applications have gained significant momentum in developed countries, awareness remains low in
developing regions. Ergonomics technology, if properly applied, can eliminate or reduce OHS
problems in the workplace and enhance performance. Lower injuries mean lower medical and
compensation costs, less loss of wages and workdays, and financial benefit to the company. The
application of ergonomics in improving OHS needs to be explored for the oil industry in desert
environments.
Work in the oil industry involves diverse activities including work in rigs, workshops, and offices.
Heat stress as a potential safety and health hazard has been recognized in the literature and guidelines for
exposure have been formulated (Hancock & Vasmatzidis, 1998). A significant proportion of workers in
the oil industry in hot arid areas, such as the Arabian Gulf, are exposed to heat stress. As a standard
schedule, an 8 h work shift is adopted in offices, while a 12 h work shift is adopted on rigs. The normal
office work schedule is 8 a.m.–4 p.m., 5 days a week; where as the schedule in the desert/rigs are from 6
a.m.–6 p.m. and 6 p.m.–6 a.m., shift work, with normal breaks.
It is generally more effective to examine work conditions on a case-by-case basis when applying
ergonomic principles to solve or prevent health and safety problems. There are no specific
ergonomics studies of the oil industry in desert environments in the literature, as far as the authors
are aware.
The main objective of this research was to investigate ergonomics, and OHS problems in the oil
industry in a desert environment in the Sultanate of Oman.
 A.A. Shikdar, N.M. Sawaqed / Computers & Industrial Engineering 47 (2004) 223–232 225

2. Methodology

The selected oil company was located in the Sultanate of Oman. It was a large company engaged in
all activities of oil production from exploration to sales, and it was representative of oil industries in
the country. The company was comprised of about 100 operating units, commonly known as assets. A
unit/asset was a section or department responsible for a specialized job, such as a rig, workshop,
exploration, mechanical maintenance, etc. Depending on the unit, the workers were engaged in various
tasks. For example, workers in the rig would be involved in drilling, laying pipes, maneuvering pipes
and casings, etc. Each unit was managed by a team leader, supervisor or section head who was
considered a manager in the study. The managers were graduates in their respective fields. Only a few
managers had little or some experience in ergonomics through university courses or short courses,
while some others gained some knowledge through information booklets. Two occupational
hygienists in the heath, safety and environment department of the company, were responsible for
ergonomics.
The government laws on occupational health and industrial safety require all employers to provide a
safe work place for their employees. There are written organizational policies concerning health and
safety and environment that should be implemented. Safety training is provided to all employees.
However, this had no component of ergonomics in it. Some ergonomics information is available in both
Arabic and English in the form of booklets and in the company website. No short courses on ergonomics
were available in the company. Consultants are available when necessary from overseas. Medical
problems due to injuries are handled by company clinics. There is an injury reporting and investigation
procedure. The company covers all expenses, including wages for the days the employee is not working
due to injury. A medical board decides on the amount of compensation.
The methodology for investigating ergonomics, and OHS in the selected industry involved
development of and conducting a checklist that included questions on: (1) demography of the unit, (2)
OHS issues, (3) ergonomic issues, (4) environmental factors, and (5) management issues. The total
number of injuries for each unit over a 3-year period was provided by the company. Details on each
category and severity of injury were not available for the study.
The questionnaire on demography of the units included questions such as number of workers, types of
jobs, and if targets are used or achieved. Regarding safety issues, the managers were asked questions
about their workers’ absenteeism and number of injuries. The ergonomic issues included questions
regarding worker complaints on health and safety such as back pain, upper body pain, fatigue, stress,
manual material handling, motivation and training. An example of a typical health related question was
‘do you receive complaints of back pain from you employees?’. The environmental factors included
questions on the perception of heat and humidity, noise, light, dust and pollution; while the management
issues included questions on awareness and knowledge of safety committees, worker training, hazard
analysis, ergonomics and OHS regulations. A sample environment related question was of ‘do you have
problem with noise in your asset?’ type.
Checklists were distributed to the managers of 96 units (commonly known as assets) of the
participating oil industry. It was noted that the managers in general were not interested in research, but
would rather use known techniques that have been proven beneficial in the past, especially in the areas of
machines and operations. Telephone calls, reminders and visits were made to convince the managers to
fill out the checklist with a guarantee of full confidentiality.
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Fifty-six questionnaires were returned after completion. The response rate was 58%, which was
considered good. The data was summarized for subsequent analysis.

3. Analysis of results

The data were analyzed in terms of frequency of positive or negative response to each question.
Analysis indicated specific ergonomic problems exist in most of the assets of the company. They include
(1) with regard to employees: back pains/backaches, upper body and neck pains, hand and wrist pain and
discomfort, fatigue, stress and dissatisfaction; (2) with regard to work and workplace design: manual
materials handling, hand tools, machines, workstations; (3) with regard to environment: heat, humidity,
noise and dust; and (4) with regard to management: training, motivation and OHS programs. Detailed
analyses of the results are presented below.

3.1. Demography of the assets (units)

Table 1 shows the demographic characteristics of the assets. The number of employees ranged from 3
to 256 in the assets with a mean of about 21 employees and a standard deviation of 39.
Majority of the employees were local and comprised 78% of the total employees. The employees in
the assets were not unionized. Communication was conducted in Arabic, English and Hindi depending
on the need.

3.2. Worker health complaints

The injury rate was about 25 injuries per 100 employees per year, which was considered high by
the management (Table 1). Fig. 1 shows the human related complaints received by managers of the
assets. Forty-eight percent of asset managers received complaints of work stress while 46% received
complaints of dissatisfaction and 38% of headache. Complaints of back pain, upper-body and neck
pain and hand and wrist pain were reported in 48, 32 and 25% of the assets, respectively. Worker
fatigue was reported in 36% of the assets. These are clear indications of ergonomic deficiencies in
the assets surveyed. Analysis of the number of complaints or injuries and severity of injuries per
worker in each category was beyond the scope of this research as these statistics were not available
with the managers.

Table 1
Demographic characteristics of the assets surveyed
Variables Min Max Mean SD
No. of employees 3 256 20.88 39.28
No. of employees (Omani) 0 179 16.30 30.17
No. of employees (non-Omani) 0 77 4.57 10.70
No. of injuries (last 3 years) 1 59 16.05 16.00
 A.A. Shikdar, N.M. Sawaqed / Computers & Industrial Engineering 47 (2004) 223–232 227

Fig. 1. Some major worker complaints in the assets.

3.3. Task and management related problems

With regard to tasks and management related attributes (Fig. 2), 38% of the managers surveyed
indicated that they have inadequate facilities or resources, 20% reported on problems with management,
and 23% on workstation problems. Only 2% of the managers reported problems with hand tools, 4%
with manual materials handling, and 9% with machines. These indicated that managers consider their
assets have well-maintained tools and equipment, although 38% of the managers indicated having
inadequate facilities and resources. Manual material handling was not considered a major problem as the
workers received training and perhaps they were unable to recognize this as a source of back pain. Forty-
one percent of the managers reported on problems in motivating employees in their assets.

3.4. Environmental problems

There was a clear indication of environmental problems in the participating assets. Fig. 3 shows the
major environmental problems. Hot and humid environmental conditions appeared to be a major

Fig. 2. Problems related to task and organizational aspects.

228 A.A. Shikdar, N.M. Sawaqed / Computers & Industrial Engineering 47 (2004) 223–232

Fig. 3. Major environmental problems.

concern. Fifty-seven percent of the managers indicated they have problems with hot and humid
conditions, 48% with dust and 36% on high noise levels, while 14% complained of pollution. These
findings were not unexpected for a desert environment. However, they show the magnitude of the
problem. Workers could be exposed to a temperature as high as 45 8C in the oilrigs while the offices are
air-conditioned (Shikdar, 2004; Shikdar & Sawaqed, 2003).
There are specific company policies regarding exposure to noise levels, heat, manual handling and
toxic chemicals. For example, the noise level standard for 8 h exposure is 85 dBA. There were a limited
number of inspectors responsible for OHS.

3.5. Ergonomics related problems

As shown in Fig. 4, most of the assets (75%) carried out task analysis and hazard analysis (71%).
However, only 36% indicated conducting ergonomic assessment (EA) of their assets and 38% indicated
having knowledge of ergonomics. Although ergonomics information was available to the managers, it
was not evident that they used a formal EA procedure. Forty-six percent of the managers indicated that

Fig. 4. Ergonomics, OHS and other issues.

 A.A. Shikdar, N.M. Sawaqed / Computers & Industrial Engineering 47 (2004) 223–232 229

they comply with OHS regulations of the government and the company. More emphasis was placed on
office environment and design. Since it is a requirement to provide a safe workplace, ergonomics needs
to be considered in all work and facilities design. However, it could not be ascertained if the managers
accessed the information. The results indicated that ergonomics was not widely applied in the
workplaces. This is probably due to lack of awareness and skills in ergonomics, and communication and
resource constraints.
Ergonomics and OHS are the responsibility of both staff and management. If managers lack
knowledge in ergonomics and staff were not trained in ergonomics they would not be able to implement
it. Although managers are not expected to be specialist in ergonomics, they should, in order to improve
health and safety in their units, have at least a working knowledge of ergonomics and be able to
implement it.

3.6. Problems comparison and correlations

To compare among assets in terms of problems, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted
using managers’ response as the independent variable. The three problem areas, and two ergonomics and
safety related attributes as defined below were considered as the main effects (factors) in the analysis.
i. Worker health (WH)—problems related to WH, such as complaints of back pain, upper body or neck
pain, hand and wrist pain, headache, fatigue, stress, and dissatisfaction
ii. Work and facility (WF)—problems related to WF, such as manual materials handling, hand tools,
machines, workstations, workers, worker motivation, facility and resources, and worker training
iii. Environment (ENV)—problems related to environment, such as heat, noise, light and dust
iv. EA—ergonomics and safety assessment attributes related to assessments, such as ergonomics
assessment, hazard analysis, task analysis, OHS standards
v. Ergonomics knowledge (EK)—ergonomics and safety attributes related to know-how in
ergonomics, such as EK, OHS regulations

The ANOVA revealed significant differences among problem areas and ergonomics and safety
attributes with p-values as shown in Table 2. The results indicated that there was a significant difference
among the problem areas and problems of different assets. In other words, the assets did not have the
same level of problems in terms of WH, WF, environment, and ergonomics and safety related attributes.
A correlation analysis with the survey attributes and average injury rate (AVINJ) was conducted to
identify if there was any relationship among these variables. The results showed highly positive and
Table 2
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results
Source df MS F POF* R2
Model 120 19.561 83.501 0.000 0.664
Problem area 4 5.423 23.076 0.000
Problem 23 2.077 3.253 0.000
Error 1224 0.235
Total 1344
*POF, probability that an F value would be greater than the observed value.
230 A.A. Shikdar, N.M. Sawaqed / Computers & Industrial Engineering 47 (2004) 223–232

significant (p!0.01) correlations between average number of injuries suffered by the individual assets
and problems related to WH, work and facilities, environment and ergonomics and safety related
attributes.
Table 3 shows the correlation parameters between average number of injuries and individual problem
areas. The correlation coefficient between injuries and human related problems was highly significant
(p!0.01) indicating that WH related attributes, such as complaints of stress, fatigue, headache, pains,
etc. may have contributed to these injuries. A significant correlation (p!0.05) was found among injuries
and environmental problems. Stated otherwise, environmental problems may have contributed to these
injuries. The correlation coefficients between injuries and task and organizational problems and between
injuries and other problems were not significant. A significant correlation was found between EK and
access to ergonomics information with injuries. Assets who had knowledge of ergonomics and complied
with OHS regulations reported fewer numbers of injuries. The environment showed a significant
correlation (p!0.05) with human related complaints. Therefore, an improvement on the application of
ergonomics and OHS standards and environment will have positive impact on reducing injuries in the
company.

4. Conclusions and recommendations

4.1. Conclusions

From this study the following conclusions could be drawn with regard to ergonomics, OHS in the oil
industry in the desert environment:
1. There was a significant positive correlation among ergonomics, OHS problems and AVINJ rates of
the assets. Stated otherwise, the assets who had more ergonomics and OHS problems also had higher
Table 3
Correlations among the variables
Average Worker Work and Environment WHCWFC Ergonomic Ergonomic EACEK
injury health facility (ENV) ENV assessment knowledge
(AVINJ) (WH) (WF) (EA) (EK)
Average 1.000 0.487* 0.402* 0.271 0.584** K0.408* K0.397* K0.569**
injury
Worker health 1.000 0.442* 0.139 0.861** K0.778** K0.218 K0.826**
Work and 1.000 0.267 0.793** K0.239 K0.420* K0.494*
facility
Environment 1.000 0.617** K0.295 K0.189 K0.248
WHCWFC 1.000 K0.392* K0.285 K0.475*
ENV
Ergonomic 1.000 0.181 0.774**
assessment
Ergonomic 1.000 0.787**
knowledge
EACEK 1.000
*Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level, **correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.
 A.A. Shikdar, N.M. Sawaqed / Computers & Industrial Engineering 47 (2004) 223–232 231

injury rates. Sixty-two percent of the managers acknowledged having no knowledge or access to
ergonomics information and data. Sixty-four percent of the assets did not carry out EAs of their
workplaces.
2. Managers received worker complaints of fatigue, back pain, headache, and upper body pain in 36, 48,
38 and 32% of the assets, respectively. Forty-eight percent of the assets received complaints of stress.
These complaints are indications of ergonomic deficiencies in the work system in the oil industry.
3. Work in the oil industry, especially in a desert region, could be characterized by diverse schedules,
long hours, and hot environment. Thirty-eight percent of managers indicated problems in motivating
workers.
4. Poor environmental conditions, especially noise and heat, were common to many of the assets.
Fifty-seven percent of the assets reported on the hot environment, 36% reported on noisy
conditions (O85 dBA) and 48% on dust. Adverse environmental condition would aggravate
accidents and injuries.
5. The majority of the asset managers (62%) either did not have knowledge in ergonomics, access to
ergonomics information or they simply ignored it considering resource constraints and costs.

4.2. Recommendations

Some of the strategies to improve the above conditions as evident from the study are stated below:
1. Managers must be knowledgeable and aware of the benefits of ergonomics, and the prevention of
injuries through ergonomics implementation. They should be trained in ergonomics to acquire skills
in implementing it in the workplace.
2. Employees need to be trained systematically in ergonomics in order to improve ergonomic conditions
and OHS and hence improve human performance. This would be beneficial to both employees and
management.
3. The work and workplace design should be carried out using ergonomic guidelines, acts and
recommendations considering user population. The environment must be given adequate
consideration.
4. Strategies should be formulated and implemented to introduce ergonomics systematically through
ergonomic programs in the oil industry in order to improve worker productivity, safety, health and
environment.
5. Effective implementation of specific written policies concerning health and safety must be ensured
through inspection, periodic reporting and enforcement of government laws.

Acknowledgements

The study was funded through SQU Internal Research Grant No. ENG/00/02. The authors
acknowledge the contribution of Mr Moutaz Al-Riyami and Mr Hilal Al-Sabari in the data collection
process.
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