Using surveys to identify stressors in generalized jobs: A direct clustering method

Abstract

The objective of this research was to develop a method for identifying the tasks involved in a given general-description job and each such task's associated physiological and psychological stress factors. The resulting method consisted of a three-section survey followed by a short interview. The first two sections of the survey provide descriptive information concerning both employee demographics and the physiological burden being placed on the employees, in terms of stress exhibited on specific body parts and the severity of that stress. The third survey section and interview then focuses on identifying correlations between job task and perceived stressors. The primary benefit of the proposed method lies in its potential to identify high-risk tasks in general job categories using relatively expedient and inexpensive techniques and hence to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of on-site analysis. To evaluate the efficacy of the proposed method, a fisheries operation was considered in a pilot study. The results of this study, presented herein, identified eight high-risk tasks. Subsequent on-site analysis quantitatively verified that each of these tasks had been correctly classified by the presented method. Relevance to industry Use of the presented method has shown to be both an efficient and cost effective tool, which are traits highly desired by industry and ergonomic professionals.