Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science (대한안전경영과학회지)

Korea Safety Management & Science (대한안전경영과학회)
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Analysis of Accuracy and Reliability for OWAS, RULA, and REBA to Assess Risk Factors of Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders

근골격계질환 유해요인 정밀조사를 위한 OWAS, RULA, REBA의 평가 정확도 및 신뢰도 분석

  • Cheon, Woohyun (School of Industrial Engineering, University of Ulsan) ;
  • Jung, Kihyo (School of Industrial Engineering, University of Ulsan)
  • 천우현 (울산대학교 산업경영공학부) ;
  • 정기효 (울산대학교 산업경영공학부)
  • Received : 2020.05.13
  • Accepted : 2020.06.22
  • Published : 2020.06.30
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Abstract

The study evaluated the accuracy and intra-rater reliability for OWAS (Ovako Working posture Analysing System), RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment), REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment) to improve their evaluation accuracy and reliability. Participants (n = 163) with undergraduate degree were recruited in this study and trained for 6 hours about the ergonomic assessment methods. Ergonomic assessments were conducted using OWAS, RULA, and REBA for a representative work with dynamic posture found in manufacturing industries. The study compared action categories (overall level) and detailed evaluation scores for individual body part. Action categories of the participants significantly differed from the golden reference defined by ergonomic experts. The participants underrated or omitted scores for truck (37.4% of the participants) and legs (52.8%) in OWAS. Similarly, the participants underrated or omitted additional scores for all body parts except the hand and wrist in RULA (53.5%) and REBA (54.8%). On the other hand, the participants overrated scores for the hand and wrist in RULA (55.2%) and REBA (39.9%). The results found in this study can help of selecting focus points and parts during assessment and education to improve accuracy and reliability of the ergonomic assessment methods.

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