• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.121-131
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• 2002

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the physical load by identifying harmfully working postures and to develop recommendations for improving the existing situation with nurses in ICU, thereby to provide the basis for development of work-related musculoskeletal preventive program. Method: Various types of tasks were recorded with a video camera to chart and analyze different postures by OWAS(Ovako Working Posture Analysing System). Collected data showed that poor postures were adopted, not only for lifting or repositoning a patient, but also for other tasks. Data Analysis: The performed activities were then divided into Nursing Intervention Classification. Altogether 128 postures were selected for analysis. Then they were classified into different OAC (OWAS Action Categories). From all the observation, unhealthy postures, for which corrective measures had to be considered immediately (i.e., 75% classified as OACII+III+IV) were found. Collected data were analyzed in terms of percentage, 2-tail Mann-Whitney U test. Result: Poor postures mainly occur during 'positioning the patient' and 'airway suctioning' in NIC. No difference was found (p=0.060) between the percentage of harmful posture adopted during the patient handling tasks and non-patient handling tasks. Conclusion: This study shows, that in the nursing profession with ICU not only occur during patient handling, but also during other activities. The OWAS method was useful in determining the physical load by locating potential activities due to harmfully working postures, providing a detailed description with analysis, and suggesting successful means to reduce postural load.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.495-503
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• 2010

The packing and sorting processes of grape are required repetitive movements to need considerable physical load for a long time. And thereby, there is strong possibility to cause musculoskeletal disorders. In this study, ergonomically designed convenience equipments of worktable and handcart are introduced for improvement of the working movements and less physical load to increase the work efficiency. For objective analysis of the movements and the workload between the ones before and after the improvement, we measured heart rate, OWAS, RULA, REBA, LMM, moving Line and work time. Also, we used a checklist of physical fatigue regions to confirm the subjective evaluation of physical load of workers. As the result of study, it showed lower heart rate, value of Working Postures (OWAS, RULA, REBA) and LMM in the work after introduction of those convenient equipments than the work of before the introduction. The work time and moving Line were shortened and the number of grape boxes packed within the same work time was increased, too. Also the overall load as the subjective evaluation was reduced.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.123-136
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• 2012

The validity of the results from observational methods such as RULA, REBA, OWAS has been one of major concerns due to their subjective characteristics in determining the posture of interests. There have been many studies regarding validity of the results from each checklist. However, most studies provided only fragmentary rather than comprehensive results in nature. This study specifically tried to analyze consistency of novice user based on intra-observer consistency and sensitivity of industrial types during MSDs(Musculoskekltal Disorders) evaluation with major checklists. In this study, twenty two novice subjects were participated to conduct MSDs evaluation for the forty five jobs from three types of industries(automobile, electronics, hospital). The main results for this study were summarized as follows; 1) The action level based on RULA was always higher than that from REBA and OWAS for all three types of industries., 2) The order of consistency from novice users was OWAS(72.7%(kappa=0.57)) RULA(54.3%(kappa=0.41)), REBA(41.0%(kappa=0.34))., 3) The percentage of agreement between 2nd and 3rd trials was higher than those between 1st and 2nd trials and between 1st and 3rd trials irrespective of industrial types during using RULA and REBA., 4) The average score of automobile industry was higher than those of hospital and electronics industries., 5) The types of jobs associated with five body parts(A1(Front), A2(Interior), A3(Rear), A4(Lower), A5(Door)) in automobile industry showed statistically significant differences in terms of MSDs scores for the body parts considered in each checklists.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.112 no.3
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• pp.303-321
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• 2023

To develop the Forest Work Load Index (FWLI) for estimating the work intensity of forest workers, a study focused on forest tending was conducted. To estimate the FWLI, we used the Ovako Working Posture Analysis System (OWAS) and the Work Load Index (WLI). The OWAS is a prominent method used for analyzing musculoskeletal load in work tasks, and WLI is a prominent method used for analyzing the work intensity of workers. The PRI values analyzed for each forest tending project were 185.3 (Thinning), 150.6 (Pruning), 181.1 (Thinning for Forest Fire Prevention), and 197.0 (Thinning for Young Trees). The WLI values, calculated on the basis of the measured heart rates, were 59.5% (Thinning), 53.5% (Pruning), 56.2% (Thinning for Forest Fire Prevention), and 62.3% (Thinning for Young Trees). The FWLI was calculated using the analyzed PRI and WLI values. The FWLI values for the forest tending project were 110.2 (Thinning), 80.7 (Pruning), 102.1 (Thinning for Forest Fire Prevention), and 123.0 (Thinning for Young Trees). The FWLI developed in this study can be used to quantitatively compare the workloads of forest workers. In the future, the analyzed FWLI can be used as a basis for improving forest workers' postures and comparing workloads across different forest projects.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.271-281
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• 2021

Pinus densiflora and Larix kaempferi forests not only extended the plantation management area but also cultivated to the sustainable wood supply chain during the last 5-years. These prescriptions are primarily done by manual operation activities, particularly in young tree tending. Two types of tending activities, brashing by brush cutter(BB) and pruning by pruning shear and saw(PP), were selected for the investigate of musculoskeletal disorders' level and postural risks using Ovako Working Posture Analysis System (OWAS). The postural risk indexes (BB and PP) ranged from 115 to 125 and 102 to 105, respectively. There is no significant difference between the species. The young tree tending operations had low postural risks. The results may be used as basic data to develop technical guideline for safe young trees.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.465-472
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• 2022

Manual material handling is the one of the leading causes for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and lower back discomfort. According to a study, construction formworkers suffer greater rates of muscular injuries and related illness due to manual activities. However, there is still a paucity of information on MSD, preventive posture issues, and corresponding solutions for construction aluminum formworkers. As a result, MSD and disregard of worker health and safety continue to exist at construction sites. Although preventive measures and strategies have been studied in previous research, we believe it is imperative to shed light on this problem through this study. This study aims to 1) implement a simple and cost-effective elevated bench to reduce MSDs, and 2) determine the rapid upper limbs assessment (RULA) and Ovako working posture analyzing system (OWAS) action catagory of workers in different postures to assess their MSD conditions and obtain an optimal position and posture using the Jack human modeling software and simulation tool. The study findings reveal a considerable reduction in MSD discomfort and which posture is acceptable in post-intervention instances.Thus results provide inexpensive and simple ergonomic interventions with favorable RULA and OWAS ratings that can be applied at construction sites. This study demonstrates workstation ergonomic intervention cases that can aid in understanding the urgency of applying existing research strategies into practice.

• Proceedings of the Safety Management and Science Conference
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.319-328
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• 2011

It has been very important to have an exact evaluation for risk factors in order to prevent MSDs(Musculoskeletal Disorders). However, most MSDs evaluation checklists have always been some problems of possibilities associated with subjective evaluation. Therefore, this study tried to conduct a sort of sensitivity analysis on three major evaluation checklists(OWAS, RULA, REBA). Specifically, major subjects in the study consisted of three parts as follows; comparison of the results between experienced and inexperienced subjects, analysis for the consistency of the results in terms of different evaluation times. The results of the study were summarized as follows; 1) There was statistically significant difference of the results by RULA and by REBA between experienced and inexperienced subjects. This might due to the fact that experienced subjects have had better ability to detect the bad working posture during evaluation. However, the results by OWAS did not give any significantly different results between experienced and inexperienced subjects., 2) All three checklists showed significantly different results in terms of different evaluation times. Further study on this subject would eventually provide a sophisticated evaluating guidelines for MSDs regarding determination of subject-specific evaluation, identification of repetitive number of evaluations for stable results for each checklist, determination of job-specific evaluation methods, and so on.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.205-210
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• 2006

• Journal of Industrial Convergence
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.3-16
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• 2008

Musculoskeletal Disorders are usually caused or aggravated by poor work processes and unsuitable working conditions - that involve repetitive or forceful movements or the maintenance of constrained or awkward postures. The condition is characterized by discomfort and persistent pain. An investigation on the risk factors of musculoskeletal should have done one time per three years. Cause of musculoskeletal disorders for assembly line worker was a low back pain(LBP). Recommendations of improvement for productivity are redesign of working conditions, exercise, prevent of musculoskeletal disorders and avoiding stress.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.109 no.2
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• pp.195-201
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• 2020

A forest operation is considered as one of the riskiest environments for the development of musculoskeletal disorders because operators are exposed to harmful environmental conditions such as rough terrain, inclement weather, and poor working postures. In weed and kudzu removal operations, manual application is still common in Korea. In this study, we evaluated the ergonomic conditions of weed and kudzu removal in regeneration forests and the associated risk of musculoskeletal disorders. The risk of musculoskeletal disorders was evaluated using the Ovako Working Posture Analysis System and postural risk index. Postural risk was significantly higher for kudzu compared with weed removal operations. This suggests that kudzu removal operations must be improved to decrease postural risk.