Abstract
The objective of this work is to review literature, worldwide, in which the Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) ergonomic assessment method was applied and count the number of times that REBA was applied together with other methods and subsequent incidence. The database used was the “Web of Science—Core Collection”. Only scientific articles and bibliographic reviews were included, analysing a total of 314 documents and selecting only 91. The use of the REBA method is indicated in terms of knowledge, country, year and journal sectors. It was most used in the knowledge areas of “Manufacturing” (24.18%), “Agriculture, forestry and fishing” (21.98%) and in “Other activities” (19.78%). One of the benefits of REBA is that it evaluates different body parts: upper limbs (arm, forearm and wrist), lower extremities, trunk and neck. It is a useful method to identify the forced postures adopted by workers to thus develop improvement measures if necessary. It is concluded that REBA method use has increased over the last decade, probably due to the digitization of knowledge. It is almost always applied in combination with other methods, and its use can be a positive indicator of company sustainability.
Highlights
The most striking observation is that, the method was initially published in 2000, its application was not significant until about 15 years later, possibly because of the digitization of academic/scientific content and the massive user access via the internet [29]. This coincides with other applications concerning ergonomic assessment methods, namely the case of Ovako Working Analysis System (OWAS) [5]
The results show that only 24% of the workers were trained in ergonomics
The Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) method is mainly used for the analysis of forced postures
Summary
The World Health Organization (WHO) states that Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD) “range from those that arise suddenly and are short-lived, such as fractures, sprains and strains, to lifelong conditions associated with ongoing pain and disability”. These disorders occur in people of any age and in all parts of the world. This disease has important economic consequences and implies a decrease in job performance, in addition to affecting the health of people who suffer from them [2].
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