7 2 Risk Assessment

Epidemiology and
Job Analysis Methods

High
Definitions
Epidemiology –
Uses include:
 Record Keeping

 Job Screening


Risk Factors: is any attribute, characteristic or exposure of
an individual that increases the likelihood of developing a
disease or injury
Many risk factors: some are qualitative, others are difficult to quantify
 Examples: high force, repetition, vibration, age, sex
2
ISE 3624 Industrial Ergonomics
3 High
The overall Ergonomics Process
1. Characterize existing or potential problems
epidemiology
2. Perform job analysis
3. Implement controls
4. Evaluate effectiveness of controls, and

educate employees on ergonomics
3
High
Measures of Injury or Disease Frequency
 Incidence:
 Ex. 10 injuries/10,000 full-time workers per year
 Prevalence:
 Period prevalence: 10 CTD/10,000 workers per year

 Point prevalence: 10 CTD/10,000 workers
4
High
Measures of Exposure-Injury Association

 Relative Risk (RR)
 A ratio of two probabilities (or risk)
 Risk in exposed group divided by risk in unexposed
group
Suppose we were interested in measuring the association between
a particular job at a warehouse involving repeated lifting, and low
back pain. To do this, we will use RR.
We found 1000 workers with low back pain, and 1000 without
low back pain (we assume this sample is representative of our population of interest)
We then asked them if they performed the job involving repeated

lifting (yes or no)
We then compiled the data as follows:

5
High Know these formulas
Relative risk
700 200
300 800
The probability, or risk, of LBP in those who perform the lifting

is a/(a+b) = ________
The probability, or risk, of LBP in those who didn’t perform the

lifting is c/(c+d) = ________
Risk of LBP in exposed group
RR = Risk of LBP in non-exposed group = _______
If the lifting job increased the risk of LBP, then RR should be > 1
If the lifting job did not affect the risk of LBP, then RR should = 1
6
ISE 3624
If the lifting job reduced the Industrial Ergonomics
risk of LBP, then RR should be < 1
High
Measures of Exposure-Injury Association
 Odds Ratio (OR)

 A ratio of two odds
 The odds of an event (injury) is the number of
events / number of non-events
Again, suppose we were interested in measuring the association
between a particular job at a warehouse involving repeated lifting,
and low back pain. This time, we will use OR.
We can use the same data as above:
7
High
Odds ratio
700 200
300 800
The odds of LBP in those who perform the lifting is a/b = 700/200 = ______
The odds of LBP in those who did no perform lifting is c/d = 300/800 = _____
Odds of LBP in exposed group

OR = Odds of LBP in non-exposed group = ______
If the lifting job increased the odds of LBP, then OR should be > 1
If the lifting job did not affect the odds of LBP, then OR should = 1
If the lifting job reduced the odds of LBP, then OR should be < 1
8
High
RR or OR? Which is better?
• Both include same information
• ORs are less easy to express in plain English, and

less easy to understand.
• For RR = 2.85, we can say “the lifting job increased

the risk of LBP by 285%, or by a factor of 2.85.
• For OR = 9.33, we can say “for every 9.33 workers

who experienced LBP in after the lifting job, 1 worker
experienced LBP after not doing the lifting job. That
is, the odds are 9.33 to 1.
9
Medium
Pitfalls and Precautions
 Healthy worker survivor effect
 Error created by systematic differences between groups
 May make exposures appear protective; workers with longer
exposures may appear to have lower disease rates
Group 1 Group 2
Total weight lifted = 20k tons/yr Total weight lifted = 40k tons/yr
20 LBP/20K worker-hrs 10 LBP/20K worker-hrs
Manual Lifting Manual Lifting
Mean experience = 2 yrs Mean experience = 10 yrs
 Sampling Variability
 Statistical errors due to random occurrence (type I and II errors)
 Statistical errors are less likely with larger sample sizes
 Confounding variables
 Hawthorne Effect -
10
Job Analysis Methods
 Epidemiology
 Biomechanical analysis
 Psychophysical methods
 NIOSH lifting equation
 Checklists
 Energy Expenditure or
physiological testing
11
Medium
Checklists
 Why use checklists?

 Advantages
 Easy to administer and inexpensive
 Can potentially demonstrate causal relationship
between exposure (risk factors) and injury
 Designed to be used in the workplace/minimal
interference
 Many to choose from and readily available (we will
12
only cover ISE
4) 3624 Industrial Ergonomics
Medium
Checklists
 Disadvantages
 Expert knowledge needed
 Fuzzy lines between classifying high/low risk tasks
 Subjective measures depend on rater
 Can require lots of time and resources
 Few tools have been formally evaluated or validated
13
Risk Assessment Tools or Checklists
1. OSHA’s Ergonomic Assessment Checklist
2. RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment)
3. REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment)
4. Job Strain Index
https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/ergonomics/identifyprobs.html
14
OSHA’s Ergonomics Assessment Checklist
 General took that evaluates several

job-related risk factors
 Repetition
 Force
 Awkward postures
 Contact stress
 Vibration
15
16
Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA)
 A survey method for ergonomic investigation
where upper limb disorders are of concern
 Analyzes a moment in the work cycle
 Posture(s) selected for evaluation may be:
 held for the longest period of time
 where the highest force occurs
 most difficult posture or task based on worker interview
 only one limb assessed at a time
 Scoring based on expert opinion of

biomechanical and muscle function criteria
17
RULA
 Risk Factors Evaluated:
 Posture
 Force
 Repetition/duration
 Body Areas Addressed:

 Wrists / forearms
 Elbows
 Shoulders
 Neck
 Trunk
18
RULA
 Step 1 – Observe and select posture(s) to assess
 Observe the postures adopted while performing the tasks
 Select specific posture(s) for assessment (e.g., longest held or
most deviated)
 Assessments taken at set intervals can yield proportions
 Step 2 – Scoring and recording the posture(s)
 Score the posture of each body part using tables/software
 Review the scoring and make any adjustments, if required, for
force levels and muscle use
 Step 3 – Grand Score and Action Level
 Grand score computed from earlier information, using
table/software
 Action Level determined from Grand Score (acceptable 
immediate changes required) 19
RULA
 Final Score:
 1 or 2: Acceptable
 3 or 4: Investigate further
 5 or 6: Investigate further and change soon
 7: Investigate and change immediately
 Low scores have lower risk of injury development, high
scores, higher risk
20
21
RULA
 Advantages
 No equipment expenditures
 Can be performed in confined spaces with no/little
disruption of the task
 No previous experience in observational methods
(though helpful)
 Developed to allow for quick assessments and initial
recommendations (conservative estimate)
22
Medium
RULA - Limitations
 Can be time consuming for complex (or non-cyclic) jobs
 Practice and training/learning required for use
 Posture category distinctions are somewhat arbitrary
 Does not explicitly account for frequency and duration
 Limited number of studies on reliability and validity
 Low scores don’t guarantee that ergonomic hazards are
not present
 High scores don’t guarantee that severe problems exist
 Typically, problems identified require a more detailed
investigation
23
High
RULA - Example
24
Medium
Selecting a Checklist/Tool
 What is the main characteristic of the job or
task? (e.g., hand-arm intensive? Lifting? Carrying?
Heavy and repetitive or light and constant loads?)
 What body parts are involved? (e.g., Where on the
body do you predict problems will arise? Where are
injuries occurring?)
 What can we measure in this task? (e.g., joint
angles, time, forces, distances)
 Is the job or task influenced by worker
anthropometry?
 What is generated? (e.g., qualitative ranking vs.
numeric score)
 Usability? (e.g., qualitative
ISE 3624 vs. quantitative categories)25
Industrial Ergonomics
26

7 2 Risk Assessment

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Epidemiology and

Job Analysis Methods

The overall Ergonomics Process

1. Characterize existing or potential problems

4. Evaluate effectiveness of controls, and

 Ex. 10 injuries/10,000 full-time workers per year

 Period prevalence: 10 CTD/10,000 workers per year

Measures of Exposure-Injury Association

We then asked them if they performed the job involving repeated

We then compiled the data as follows:

The probability, or risk, of LBP in those who perform the lifting

The probability, or risk, of LBP in those who didn’t perform the

Measures of Exposure-Injury Association

 Odds Ratio (OR)

Odds of LBP in exposed group

RR or OR? Which is better?

• Both include same information

• ORs are less easy to express in plain English, and

• For RR = 2.85, we can say “the lifting job increased

• For OR = 9.33, we can say “for every 9.33 workers

 General took that evaluates several

 Scoring based on expert opinion of

 Body Areas Addressed:

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