Exposure Assessment and Musculoskeletal Disorder Risk Factors in Hospital Laboratories

Details

• Personal Author:
  Park JK ; Park JK
• Description:
  This dissertation research was carried out to examine exposure to biomechanical risk factors for upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders (UEMSDs) or injuries in hospital laboratories. It consisted of three independent studies which commonly addressed biomechanical exposure to risk factors for MSDs in hospital setting. In the first study, which was performed as part of a larger exposure assessment study, expert observations of ergonomic risk factors were made to examine the inter-rater reliability (IRR) of a newly revised version of the PATH method (Buchholz et al., 1996). Ten jobs were observed at a hospital where two of four raters simultaneously observed each worker onsite. For most of the risk factors of concern, the IRR of the revised method was shown to be good. As predicted, agreement among observers was higher for the jobs with less rapid hand activity and for the analysts with more ergonomic job analysis experience. The results suggest that the revised method reliably assesses ergonomic exposure in the healthcare industry and can be applied to non-routine jobs in other industries. The second study was conducted to characterize biomechanical exposure to MSD risk factors in hospital laboratories using a subset of PATH observation data collected for the larger study. An exposure frequency for each risk factor was estimated for each of a number of work shifts. The results showed markedly high exposure to postural strain for the distal UE and moderately high hand activity. Such exposures should be assessed in relation to specific tasks and equipment design features in order to inform intervention efforts in the clinical laboratory. The last study was performed to evaluate the effect of work surface height on muscle activity, posture, and discomfort during laboratory simulated pipetting. The experimental design consisted of one independent variable (work surface height) and thirteen dependent variables. Upper extremity muscle activity, wrist posture, neck flexion and discomfort were affected by the work surface height during simulated pipetting. The work surface height significantly influenced around 70% of the dependent variables. The levels of muscle strain and discomfort were markedly higher at the shoulder but neck flexion levels became lower when the work surface heights were increased. A guide of work surface height was recommended for pipette work based on the findings. Such information can be utilized in ergonomic improvement of laboratory equipment design and layout. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Biomechanical Phenomena Ergonomics Laboratories Musculoskeletal Diseases Musculoskeletal System Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety
• Keywords:
  Biomechanics Laboratory Equipment Laboratory Workers MSD Musculoskeletal Disorders Posture Risk Factors Upper Extremities
• Publisher:
  ProQuest LLC.
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Dissertation ; Dissertation
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20057461
• Citation:
  Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest LLC., 2006 Jun; :3244743
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• Performing Organization:
  University of Massachusetts - Lowell
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20040901
• Source Full Name:
  Exposure assessment and musculoskeletal disorder risk factors in hospital laboratories
• End Date:
  20230831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:2e0c41853f28f72cd34e949cbea3f1b171f7a7c9803e5aa0a68090c06fcfd7205285693196473f19539152ef5b7af4afa19a988aa27722e9b2d5888fd50d8791
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/214811/cdc_214811_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.12 MB ]