This cross-sectional analytic study aimed to investigate ergonomic hazards in the workplace for
musculoskeletal pain among university office workers. There were 142 full-time office staff from Khon
Kaen University. Demographic characteristics and musculoskeletal pain were evaluated from a structured
questionnaire. Ergonomic workstations, i.e. size of table, seat, work area and illuminations were measured
at the workstations and anthropometric parameters were determined. Descriptive statistics were used for
data analysis which were percentage, mean, and standard deviation. Inferential statistics were chi-square
test and the student t-test at 95 % confidence interval. The results showed that 81.7 % of office workers
were female, the mean age was 38.0 ± 10.0 years, the average work experience was 12.3 ± 10.8 years.
One-month prevalence of musculoskeletal pain was 69.0 %. The onset of symptoms was during working
hours and the majorly reported the cause as prolonged sitting in the same posture at work (73.3 %). From
measurements, 55.8 % of all workstations had insufficient illumination being lower than the minimum
standard requirement (400 lux). Most workstations (75.6 %) had significantly inappropriate height (above
elbow height of workers) at p< 0.001. From questionnaires, the seat height was significantly associated
with musculoskeletal pain (p= 0.034). Moreover, anthropometric characteristics of musculoskeletal pain
cases (i.e. buttock-popliteal length, hip breadth, sitting elbow height) were significantly different from
healthy office workers (p< 0.05). The findings suggest that ergonomic workstations need to be improved
appropriately for individual workers and improvements in working conditions following standard
requirements should be considered.