Inter-rater reliability of cyclic and non-cyclic task assessment using the hand activity level in appliance manufacturing

This study evaluated the inter-rater reliability of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) hand activity level (HAL), an observational ergonomic assessment method used to estimate physical exposure to repetitive exertions during task performance. Video recordings of 858 cyclic and non-cyclic appliance manufacturing tasks were assessed by sixteen pairs of raters using the HAL visual-analog scale. A weighted Pearson Product Moment-Correlation Coefficient was used to evaluate the agreement between the HAL scores recorded by each rater pair, and the mean weighted correlation coefficients for cyclic and non-cyclic tasks were calculated. Results indicated that the HAL is a reliable exposure assessment method for cyclic (r-barw = 0.69) and non-cyclic work tasks (r-barw = 0.68). When the two reliability scores were compared using a two-sample Student’s t-test, no significant difference in reliability (p = 0.63) between these work task categories was found. This study demonstrated that the HAL may be a useful measure of exposure to repetitive exertions during cyclic and non-cyclic tasks. Relevance to industry: Exposure to hazardous levels of repetitive action during non-cyclic task completion has traditionally been difficult to assess using simple observational techniques. The present study suggests that ergonomists could use the HAL to reliably and easily evaluate exposures associated with some non-cyclic work tasks

The Igloo of the Innuit.--V

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The Resources of Alaska

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Managing through measurement: occupational health and safety in the construction industry

2014 Summer.The purpose of my dissertation was to describe five original research activities designed to characterize and enhance the health and safety of U.S. construction workers. The sequence of research activities illustrates my focus on occupational health and safety (OHS) measurement methods (i.e., lagging and leading measures), as well as an interest in translating this research into practical methods for industry stakeholders. First, I investigated a vulnerable sub-population of construction workers, the aging workforce, via a literature review and analysis of workers' compensation (WC) data. Through the results of these studies, I found that aging workers may have a different OHS experience than younger workers (e.g., greater lost work time costs), but the frequency and cost of injuries and illnesses was high regardless of worker age. Furthermore, in the cost regression models, the age of the claimant only accounted for a small amount of variance, which suggests that other factors influence the cost of a WC claim (e.g., organizational factors such as safety climate). Second, I investigated safety climate measurement methods, and translated prior safety climate research into an intervention for construction site supervisors. I demonstrated that safety climate could be measured via worker perceptions of top management, supervisor, and co-workers' response to safety on the job. Furthermore, a supervisor workshop focused on safety climate concepts could improve the safety participation behaviors of supervisors, and their crew members. Together, my findings demonstrate that both lagging and leading measures are valuable indicators of safety performance. Lagging measures such as WC data may serve as motivators for contractors to make decisions regarding safety. Leading measures such as safety climate and safety behaviors may also be useful, because we can use them to identify hazards and their associated risks before they result in serious negative outcomes. Since it was beyond the scope of my dissertation to measure both lagging and leading measures simultaneously, it is important for future research to evaluate the predictive validity of these measures of OHS

Role of aging on the cause, type and cost of construction injuries, The

2011 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.As older workers continue to delay retirement, understanding the health and safety needs of an aging workforce will be critical over the next twenty years. The goal of the project was to determine the impact of age on workers in the construction industry as age relates to selected workers' compensation variables. Descriptive and multivariate analysis of over one hundred thousand workers' compensation construction industry claims for the state of Colorado was conducted to understand the relationship between the claimant age and workers' compensation costs by the causes and types of injuries and illnesses. The results indicated that the cost of injuries among older workers was greatest for indemnity costs alone, where there was a 3.5% increase in the indemnity cost of a claim for each year increase in age. Workers over the age of 65 were injured most frequently from falls, slips and trips and workers aged 35 to 64 were injured most frequently from strains. Though repetitive motion causes of injuries were not frequent among all age groups, they resulted in a 6.8% increase in the indemnity cost of a claim for each year increase in age. Strains were the most common type of injury for workers over the age of 35 but workers over the age of 65 experienced strains and contusions at similar frequencies. The shift towards an older work force will result in an increase in the proportion of occupational injuries among older workers, which will result in increased costs associated with lost work time and disability. Employers who wish to remain competitive must effectively manage a health and safety program that acknowledges the needs of the aging worker. Encouraging companies to address the specific needs of older workers is the first step in reducing the frequency and cost of occupational injuries related to older age

A summer in Alaska. A popular account of the travels of an Alaska exploring expedition along the great Yukon river, from its source to its mouth, in the British Northwest territory, and in the territory of Alaska.

Enlarged edition of the author's ''Along Alaska's great river''.Mode of access: Internet