Evaluation of agreement among ergonomics survey tools for the distal upper extremities

Update Item Information
Publication Type thesis
School or College College of Engineering
Department Mechanical Engineering
Author Davis, Sharon
Title Evaluation of agreement among ergonomics survey tools for the distal upper extremities
Date 2007-11-02
Description Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are a recognized problem in the workforce, particularly in manufacturing industries. The field of ergonomics refers to a number of "ergonomic analysis tools" to estimate the risk of performing a job. Currently there is little agreement on which tool is the best to use in a given situation. Consequently, ergonomists often use a number of tools in combination to give a broader picture of the job risk. This research is primary aimed at studying the degree to which outputs of different tools agree. Five commonly used analysis tools that evaluate the risk to the upper extremities were studied: Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA), Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA), Rodgers Muscle Fatigue Analysis, ACGIH Hand Activity Level TLV, and the Strain Index. Absolute agreement, which is defined as both tools assigning the same category of risk to a given job, ranged from 0.100 to 0.617. RULA and REBA were expected to have the highest degree of agreement. The two analysis tools that exhibited the highest degree of absolute agreement (0.617), were the ACGIH Hand Activity Level TLV and the Strain Index. This research will assist ergonomists in selecting tools and interpreting the risk presented by jobs when time and resources do not allow the application of multiple ergonomic assessment methods.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject Human engineering; Overuse injuries
Dissertation Institution University of Utah
Dissertation Name MS
Language eng
Relation is Version of Digital reproduction of "Evaluation of agreement among ergonomics survey tools for the distal upper extremities" J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections TA7.5 2007 .D38
Rights Management © Sharon Davis
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 53,317 bytes
Identifier us-etd2,120807
Source Original: University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections
Conversion Specifications Original scanned on Epson GT-30000 as 400 dpi to pdf using ABBYY FineReader 9.0 Professional Edition.
ARK ark:/87278/s60c59cv
Setname ir_etd
ID 193183
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s60c59cv