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Applicability of the Assessment Tool for Unstructured and Unregulated Work to Assessing Office Ergonomics

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Abstract

The prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) continues to increase among office workers. Appropriate and easy quantification of the predisposing factors are essential in developing and implementing interventions to prevent WMSD in this population. This requires the use of assessment methods that provide elaborate estimation of workers’ exposure to identified risk factors rather than an abridged sample of their work routine. This study tests with five bank tellers the Ergonomic Assessment tool for Unstructured and unregulated Work (EAUW) originally developed to provide duration and frequency estimations of risk factors in informal, non-routine work. The goal of this case study is to demonstrate the EAUW’s usefulness and applicability in office ergonomics assessment. The results indicate that the principles governing the EAUW (real time coding of risk factors) are applicable to office work assessment and promises to provide detailed estimation of risk factors when compared to existing job analysis tools.

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Evaluation of Ergonomic Risk Factors and Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders Associated with Informal Electronic Waste Recycling at Agbogbloshie in Accra
  • A A Acquah
Acquah, A.A. 2020. Evaluation of Ergonomic Risk Factors and Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders Associated with Informal Electronic Waste Recycling at Agbogbloshie in Accra. University of Ghana.
Development of an observation-based tool for ergonomic exposure assessment in informal electronic waste recycling and other unregulated non-repetitive work
  • A A Acquah
  • C Souza
  • B Martin
  • J Arko-Mensah
  • A Asabea Nti
  • L Kwarteng
  • S Takyi
  • P K Botwe
  • P Tettey
  • D Dwomoh
  • I A Quakyi
  • T G Robins
  • J N Fobil
Acquah, A.A., D'Souza, C., Martin, B., Arko-Mensah, J., Asabea Nti, A., Kwarteng, L., Takyi, S., Botwe, P.K., Tettey, P., Dwomoh, D., Quakyi, I.A., Robins, T.G., & Fobil, J.N. 2020. Development of an observation-based tool for ergonomic exposure assessment in informal electronic waste recycling and other unregulated non-repetitive work. Proc. Hum. Factors Ergon. Soc. Annu. Meet. 64, 905-909. https://doi. org/10.1177/1071181320641216