DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL ERGONOMIC EVALUATION TOOL

Abstract

Ergonomics or Human Factors is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of the interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theoretical principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance. Within the discipline, domains of specialization represent deeper competencies in specific human attributes or characteristics of human interaction: Physical, Cognitive and Organizational Ergonomics. Physical ergonomics is concerned with human anatomical, anthropometric, physiological and biomechanical characteristics as they relate to physical activity. The relevant topics include working postures, materials handling, repetitive movements, work-related musculoskeletal disorders, workplace layout, safety and health. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are a group of painful disorders of muscles, tendons, and nerves. Carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, thoracic outlet syndrome, and tension neck syndrome are some of the examples. Work activities which are frequent and repetitive, or activities with awkward postures cause these disorders which may be painful during work or at rest (Kourinka, 1998). One of main problems that workers who handle and move heavy loads have to face is back pain. Studies showed that 80% of the population of the world have or will have back pain in one moment of their lives. In spite of the multifactorial aspect of back pain, intervertebral disc have been shown as one of the main related sites to lower back pain development. The cumulative results are the reduction of the spine length and, consequently, the height of the person. The intervertebral disc deformation is related to the magnitude and time of application of the loads (Kilbom, 1998). Bearing this in mind, several have been the ergonomic evaluation tools that have been developed in order to classify the worker’s level of risk in having a musculoskeletal disorder in the near future. Many are the tools and many are the specifications of the several tools, resulting in an incorrect ergonomic evaluation if the incorrect tool is selected. Therefore, this paper presents some of the ergonomic evaluation tools presenting advantages and disadvantages, and in the end, proposing a combination of the selected tools in order to present universal ergonomic evaluation tool.