Proceedings of the
The 33rd European Safety and Reliability Conference (ESREL 2023)
3 – 8 September 2023, Southampton, UK
Approaches to Assessing Hand and Wrist Ergonomics in the Workplace – A Comparative Case Study
Institute of Production Machines, Systems and Robotics, Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic.
ABSTRACT
Physical stress occurs in every activity of the work process. If this load is excessive, it poses a serious problem for the body. As a consequence of the strain, painful problems occur which initially reduce the worker's comfort. Over a long period of time, it already causes a decrease in productivity and thus financial consequences for the employer. Therefore, it is important to take preventive measures and avoid damage to health.
The methods chosen are a key component in the successful implementation of ergonomic assessment and design of work systems. In the case of upper limb ergonomics assessment, the most commonly used methods are index methods evaluated by researchers based on camera footage, simulation of work activities in specialized software, automatic assessment with spatial data capture by optical means, strain gauge method, and automatically integrated electromyography. In recent years, methods for assessing activities in virtual reality (such a method was developed at our workplace) have also started to be used.
This article aims to compare the most commonly used methods for hand ergonomics assessment.
Keywords: Human factors, Occupational hazards, Work-related musculoskeletal disorders, Ergonomics, Methods.
