Work-related upper limb musculoskeletal disorders (WRULMSDS) risk assessment (original) (raw)
Related papers
Archives of Hygiene Sciences
Background & Aims of the Study: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) are among the most common types of occupational diseases and damages, especially in repair and maintenance occupations. There are various methods for the prediction of the risk factors affecting the prevalence of WRMSDs. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of three ergonomic risk assessment tools, namely the Novel Ergonomic Postural Assessment (NERPA), Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA), and Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA), for screening the musculoskeletal disorders in the employees of repair and maintenance occupation in a power plant equipment industry in Alborz province, Iran, in 2017. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on all employees in the repair and maintenance department of a power plant equipment industry, including 295 subjects in six occupational groups. The General Nordic Questionnaire was used to determine the levels of musculoskeletal disorders. The REBA, RULA, and NERPA methods were employed in order to predict the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders. Finally, the data related to the real values of musculoskeletal disorders and risk values predicted by the three mentioned methods were analyzed through Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and kappa agreement coefficient at the significance level of 0.05 using SPSS software (version 25). Results: Mean age of the participants was reported as 37.52±3.61 years. Correlation values between the levels of musculoskeletal disorders and risk levels predicted in the RULA, NERPA, and REBA were observed to be 0.764, 0.723, and 0.689, respectively (P<0.05). Correlation coefficient values of the risk levels predicted in the RULA method with NERPA and REBA were 0.767 and 0.620, respectively (P<0.05). Conclusion: Based on comparing the correlation level of prevalence rates of musculoskeletal disorders with predicted risk levels in the three studied methods, the results indicated that the best method for predicting the risk of musculoskeletal disorders in different examined tasks was the RULA method. However, none of the methods had adequate comprehensiveness for the assessment of all four risk levels.
Journal of Back and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation, 2008
Work Related Musculo-Skeletal Disorders (WRMSDs) are a common health problem and one of the major causes of disability. Exposure to risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders and the change in exposure can be measured by observational assessment techniques. One of the techniques is QEC (Quick Exposure Check), which was developed by Li and Buckle in 1998. We designed this study to translate QEC to Turkish and investigation of QEC's reliability among cleaners. The study was conducted among 20 cleaners who were randomly chosen from 200 subjects working at Istanbul University, Istanbul Medical Faculty Hospital. Test-retest reliability of QEC was investigated by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland Altman method. The reliability coefficients of QEC items were found between 0.589 and 1. Among those QEC items, wrist hand position, back position, using vehicle, work period, were found statistically the most reliable between measurements. The items' reliability of QEC was generally fair to good. For this reason, we suggest that, QEC would be helpful for evaluation of WRMSD risk assessment to those who work in the field of work health and safety in the industry of Turkey.
Occupational musculoskeletal diseases and OCRA checklist risk assessment
2010
This study aims at to evaluate the relationships between MSDs diagnosis and OCRA evaluation results. Symptomatic workers (n=186) were submitted to a medical examination by an orthopaedist to diagnose musculoskeletal diseases. OCRA checklist was applied in their workplaces. Workplaces with moderate/high scores (n=57) on WRULMSDs risk (OCRA score ≥16,5) were videotaped and analyzed with ERGOrom software at elbow, wrist and fingers for means of OCRA predictive validity. Clinical evaluation identifies an important number of WRULMSDs (n=83).
Industrial Health, 2013
A practical method for non-experts in assessing exposure to risk factors for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) is presented. Evaluación del Riesgo Individual (Individual Risk Assessment) (ERIN) is based on available ergonomic tools, epidemiological evidence and the joint IEA-WHO project for developing WMSDs risk management in developing countries. ERIN focuses primarily on the interaction of some physical workplace factors but also includes the workers' assessment. A scoring system has been proposed to indicate the level of intervention required to reduce the risk of injury. A worksheet has also been designed for increasing the usability of the method. Preliminary tests show that it is easy and quick to use, but further work is needed to establish its reliability and validity. The use of ERIN can contribute to the prevention of WMSDs in Cuba and other developing countries.
Applied Ergonomics, 2004
Upper limb disorders (ULDs) in the workplace represent a significant cause of ill health in Great Britain. As part of the Health and Safety Commission's strategy for the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), the well known guidance document on ULDs-''Work-related Upper Limb Disorders: a Guide to Prevention'' (HSG60), (HMSO, London.), has been extensively revised. This revision (Upper limb disorders in the workplace. HSG60 (rev), HSE Books, Sudbury.) includes the development of new risk assessment tools that can be used by employers to identify ULD risk factors in work activities and more importantly to take action to reduce or eliminate ULD risks. The risk assessment tools form part of a seven stage management approach that underpins the new guidance. This paper outlines the development of the risk assessment tools contained in the revised guidance. Crown
Human Factors the Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 2014
To better characterize associations between physical risk factors and upper-extremity musculoskeletal symptoms and disorders, a prospective epidemiologic study of 386 manufacturing workers was performed. Background: Methodological limitations of previous studies have resulted in inconsistent associations. Method: An individual, task-based exposure assessment strategy was used to assess upper-extremity exertion intensity, repetition, and time-in-posture categories. Participants recorded time spent performing daily work tasks on a preprinted log, which was then used to calculate time-weightedaverage exposures across each week of follow-up. In addition, a weekly Strain Index (SI) risk category was assigned to each participant. Incident musculoskeletal symptoms and disorders were assessed weekly. Proportional hazards analyses were used to examine associations between exposure measures and incident hand/arm and neck/shoulder symptoms and disorders. Results: Incident symptoms and disorders were common (incident hand/arm symptoms = 58/100 person-years (PY), incident hand/arm disorders = 19/100 PY, incident neck/shoulder symptoms = 54/100 PY, incident neck/shoulder disorders = 14/100 PY). Few associations between separate estimates of physical exposure and hand/arm and neck/shoulder outcomes were observed. However, associations were observed between dichotomized SI risk category and incident hand/arm symptoms (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.99, 3.04]) and disorders (HR = 1.93, 95% CI = [0.85, 4.40]). Conclusion: Evidence of associations between physical risk factors and musculoskeletal outcome was strongest when exposure was estimated with the SI, in comparison to other metrics of exposure. Application: The results of this study provide evidence that physical exposures in the workplace contribute to musculoskeletal disorder incidence. Musculoskeletal disorder prevention efforts should include mitigation of these occupational risk factors.
2017
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) are still frequent, inducing very large costs for companies and societies all over the world. Ergonomists work to prevent these disorders and to make organisations sustainable. In their work it is important to identify risks in a reliable way, to prioritise risks, and then to perform interventions (participatory interventions have shown to more often be successful), so that the risks and the disorders may be reduced. Risks are most often assessed by observation. Two projects are described. In the first project the interobserver reliability of six observational methods was found to be low in risk assessments concerning repetition, movements and postures. Also the inter-method reliability was often low, i.e. when the same work is assessed with different methods different risk estimates are often obtained. In the second described project, easy-to-use methods for measurements of postures and movements were developed and validated. Hence, t...
Assessment tools analysis of work-related musculoskeletal disorders: strengths and limitations
MATEC web of conferences, 2021
Musculoskeletal disorders are one of the most common occupational diseases, affecting millions of workers in the European Union and costing employers billions of euros. Researching the relationships and possibilities of optimal mutual adaptation, under given conditions, both of human to his work and of work to humans, in order to increase the technical-economic efficiency, to optimize the conditions of satisfaction, motivation and work results, while maintaining the worker's state of health also involves, as a basic stage, the assessment of the risks of osteomuscular-articular overload. Starting from a statistical synthesis on the incidence of MSD and the characteristic types of demands, the paper systematizes in a unitary vision the categories of methods, techniques and tools available for recording and evaluating the factors of physical and postural stress of workers. The pointed description of three of the most commonly applied ergonomic risk assessment tools, aimed at developing a synthesis of Strengths-Weaknesses type, which highlights the advantages of methods in counterbalance with their limitations, providing a first basis for selection in order to apply them in the practice of companies that are aware that investing in safety means investing in profit and not losing financial resources and implicitly human, material ones.