Workplace Risk Assessment Tools for Preventing Shoulder Disorders

Details

• Personal Author:
  Gallagher S ; Rempel D
• Description:
  Introduction: The presentation reviews tools for assessing risk for shoulder disorders and fatigue related to over-shoulder work. Materials and Methods: The literature was searched to identify tools that estimate risk of shoulder injury or fatigue and reviewed on input and output factors and usability for design. Results: The tools identified were RULA, OCRA, The Shoulder Tool, and a new design tool to estimate maximum acceptable arm forces based on hand location. The first 2 tools provide generic cautionary outputs for above shoulder work, e.g, "change may be needed". The 2 later tools provided more detailed design-oriented output with hand force limitations based on 3D hand posture above the shoulder. The Shoulder Tool estimates risk using a fatigue failure model using the shoulder load moment for a single hand location for a 50th% male and incorporates the effect of repetition. The tool provides cumulative exposure estimates for multiple tasks, and has been validated against physician-diagnosed shoulder tendinitis and other shoulder outcomes. The design tool is based on 25th % female strength at 3D hand locations above the shoulder and considers supraspinatus tendon impingement and shoulder muscle fatigue. Conclusions: The risk assessment tools reviewed were designed for different purposes and each has their own limitations. Risk assessment tools that provide specific hand force limits relative to repetition rate and hand location may be the most useful for workstation and task design. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Biomechanical Phenomena Ergonomics Fatigue Musculoskeletal Diseases Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Biomechanics MSD Musculoskeletal Disorders Risk Assessment
• ISSN:
  2093-7911
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Alabama ; California ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  13
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20067037
• Citation:
  Saf Health Work 2022 Jan; 13(Suppl):S29-S30
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2022
• Performing Organization:
  University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Safety and Health at Work
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:2663af7415508e56f979b05820494df120293e2aca7e198e34858d9155082ee6a22a1d3ff9ec302d1b55b061278fa8eb7fd1e7316650389bc3a23d44c5a45938
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/231258/cdc_231258_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 55.60 KB ]