Mechanical exposure and musculoskeletal disorder risk at the production system level: A framework and application

Abstract

Intervention research to reduce musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) has usually been focused at the job level. However, to intervene in and monitor change at a production system level, an approach to assess mechanical exposure and risk at this level is needed. The first purpose of this article is to present an example of production system level risk estimates. The second purpose is to compare the impact of an intervention at the job system and the production system level. One product was tracked throughout an entire production system to quantify the "product cycle" exposure and risks experienced by the low back. The intervention described decreased the predicted production system exposures and predicted risk substantially, if adopted across all departments. C 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effect of various foot wedge conditions on the electromyographic activity of lower extremity muscles during load lifting

“…Epidemiological studies report an association between work-related physical loading and the occurrence of low back pain (LBP; Kingma et al, 2001). One of the most important tasks in work environments is load lifting, which has been considered as a risk factor for occurrence of work-related LBP problem (Hoogendoorn, van Poppel, Bongers, Koes, & Bouter, 1999;Pascual, Frazer, Wells, & Cole, 2008). Load lifting imposes considerable stress on the vertebral column, depending on the lumbar spine position, activation intensity of erector spine muscles, load weight, and lifting repetition (Rohlmann et al, 2014).…”