• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.11-22
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• 2002

In this study, an asymmetric lifting posture prediction model was developed, which was a three-dimensional model with 12 links and 23 degrees of freedom open kinematic chains. Although previous researchers have proposed biomechanical, psychophysical, or physiological measures as cost functions, for solving redundancy, they lack in accuracy in predicting actual lifting postures and most of them are confined to the two-dimensional model. To develop an asymmetric lifting posture prediction model, we used the resolved motion method for accurately simulating the lifting motion in a reasonable time. Furthermore, in solving the redundant problem of the human posture prediction, a moment weighted Joint Range Availability (JRA) was used as a cost function in order to consider dynamic lifting. However, it is known that the moment weighted JRA as a cost function predicted the lower extremity and L5/S1 joint motions better than the upper extremities, while the constant weighted JRA as a cost function predicted the latter better than the former. To compensate for this, we proposed a hybrid moment weighted JRA as a new cost function with moment weighted for only the lower extremity. In order to validate the proposed cost function, the predicted and real lifting postures for various lifting conditions were compared by using the root mean square(RMS) error. This hybrid JRA reduced RMS more than the previous cost functions. Therefore, it is concluded that the cost function of a hybrid moment weighted JRA can be used to predict three-dimensional lifting postures. To compare with the predicted trajectories and the real lifting movements, graphical validations were performed. The results also showed that the hybrid moment weighted cost function model was found to have generated the postures more similar to the real movements.

• IE interfaces
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.387-395
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• 2011

This study was aiming to examine work time, frequency, work environment, and postures of retail grocery store workers to evaluate the risk of musculoskeletal disorders. An ergonomic evaluation was conducted using job analysis and posture analysis. The four most time-consuming tasks were inspecting (27.4%), arranging (21.4%), cutting (17.6%), and displaying (15.6%). The height and length of the shelves evaluated in the field was inappropriate for workers. The most common posture was a standing posture with neutral back, and bent head, right upper arm, lower arms, and hands. Finally, this paper concluded that 'arranging,' 'cutting,' and 'displaying' seemed more stressful than other operations. The result of the ergonomic evaluation would contribute to design a better workspace in ergonomics.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.71-82
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• 2001

Twisting posture in lifting tasks has been identified as a risk factor of low back pain. However, it has been usually estimated in terms of compressive stress or muscular activity. Thus, this study was conducted to predict the influence on muscular fatigue during lifting simulation. Fifteen young and healthy subjects were recruited and performed isometric trunk exertions during upright standing, two-level flexions and five-level asymmetric twisting conditions. EMG signals from five primary trunk muscles in right part of body were collected during 20sec for 45 different lifting conditions. RMS(root mean square) and MPF(mean power frequency) parameters were used to analyze the EMG signals. Twisting postures were significant in right erector spinae(ERSR), right latissimus dorsi(LATR), right internal oblique(INOR) for muscular activities. Especially, when trunk was $30^{\circ}$ CCW twisting posture. ERSR and INOR activities increased respectively by 11% and 3%. Regarding the trunk muscle fatigue, we found that MPF shifts in twisting posture increased 2.3 and 2.6 times for ERSR and INOR muscles respectively. Therefore, It is probable for workers to suffer from low back disorders when they were exposed to a extreme twisting posture during prolonged lifting. This study suggests NIOSH(National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) lifting equation needs the time-duration multiplier in addition to asymmetric multiplier.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.117-122
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• 2022

This paper proposes a method for evaluating the work of manufacturing workers using MediaPipe as a risk factor for musculoskeletal diseases. Recently, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) caused by repeated working attitudes in industrial sites have emerged as one of the biggest problems in the industrial health field while increasing public interest. The Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency presents tools such as NIOSH Lifting Equations (NIOSH), OWAS (Ovako Working-posture Analysis System), Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA), and Rapid Entertainment Assessment (REBA) as ways to quantitatively calculate the risk of musculoskeletal diseases that can occur due to workers' repeated working attitudes. To compensate for these shortcomings, the system proposed in this study obtains the position of the joint by estimating the posture of the worker using the posture estimation learning model of MediaPipe. The position of the joint is calculated using inverse kinetics to obtain an angle and substitute it into the REBA equation to calculate the load level of the working posture. The calculated result was compared to the expert's image-based REBA evaluation result, and if there was a result with a large error, feedback was conducted with the expert again.

• 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.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.412-422
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• 2009

This study was conducted to assess exposure to musculoskeletal disorder(MSD) risk factors in hospital personnel who performed non-routinized work tasks. A tool ("PATH-KOSHA" version) was newly revised from PATH(Posture, Activity, Tools and Handling) method and uploaded into a personal digital assistant(PDA). The version was used, on a basis of direct-observation, to collect PATH data at the 2 hospital settings in different regions. Job analysis was performed to get various information (e.g., work and rest time, task type) as well. The data collected were visually checked for data cleaning and stored for future data analysis. A total of 1,992 PATH observations were made for 37 hospital workers. Exposure levels varied across 18 items of the MSD risk factors. The highest percent time spent on non-neutral postures was 53% for wrist deviation, followed by 47%(pinch grip), 35%(trunk posture), 23%(neck posture), and 20%(shoulder/arm posture). The highest percent time spent among hand activity level(HAL) variables was 55% for HAL-cat2 (HAL: 3.3 - <6.7). The percent time of items with respect to both loads with more than 5kg and contact stress was less than 4%. Vibration was not exposed in the study workers. Different aspects were discussed for findings. The study results showed that wrist deviation was highest in percent time spent on awkward posture while HAL-cat2 was highest in hand repetition. The study suggests that distal upper extremity posture and HAL should be primarily addressed and controlled in non-routinized work including the hospital settings.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.21-30
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• 2008

The psychosocial stress and musculoskeletal disorders(MSDs) have been one of major health problems for hospital workers. This study tried to understand the relationship between symptoms associated with MSDs and risk factors such as working posture, job stress, psychosocial stress and fatigue. A total number of 655 hospital workers participated in this study. Specifically, REBA was applied for evaluating working posture and a checklist prepared by KOSHA(Korean Occupational Safety and Health Agency) was used for symptom survey. A questionnaire from KOSHA was also used for collecting data associated with job stress, psychosocial stress and fatigue. All these data were formulated and modeled by path analysis which was one of major statistical tools in this study. Specifically, path analysis for the data we collected came up with several major findings. The risk scores from working posture based on REBA had indirect effects via fatigue factor(MFS) as well as direct effects on symptoms. The factors associated with job stress (KOSS) and psychosocial stress(PWI-SF) had significant effects on symptoms. Specifically, indirect effect of job stress factors via fatigue factors(MFS) had bigger than that of direct effect of job stress on symptom.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.49-54
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• 2016

Background: Prolonged sitting leads to low back discomfort and lumbopelvic muscle fatigue. This study examined the characteristics of body perceived discomfort and trunk muscle fatigue during 1 hour of sitting in three postures in office workers. Methods: Thirty workers sat for 1 hour in one of three sitting postures (i.e., upright, slumped, and forward leaning postures). Body discomfort was assessed using the Body Perceived Discomfort scale at the beginning and after 1 hour of sitting. Electromyographic (EMG) signals were recorded from superficial lumbar multifidus, iliocostalis lumborum pars thoracis, internal oblique (IO)/transversus abdominis (TrA), and rectus abdominis muscles during 1 hour of sitting. The median frequency (MDF) of the EMG power spectrum was calculated. Results: Regardless of the sitting posture, the Body Perceived Discomfort scores in the neck, shoulder, upper back, low back, and buttock significantly increased after 1 hour of sitting compared with baseline values ($t_{(9)}=-11.97$ to -2.69, p < 0.05). The MDF value of the EMG signal of rectus abdominis, iliocostalis lumborum pars thoracis, and multifidus muscles was unchanged over time in all three sitting postures. Only the right and left IO/TrA in the slumped sitting posture was significantly associated with decreased MDF over time (p = 0.019 to 0.041). Conclusion: Prolonged sitting led to increased body discomfort in the neck, shoulder, upper back, low back, and buttock. No sign of trunk muscle fatigue was detected over 1 hour of sitting in the upright and forward leaning postures. Prolonged slumped sitting may relate to IO/TrA muscle fatigue, which may compromise the stability of the spine, making it susceptible to injury.

• Journal of the korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.55-67
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• 1986

The safety and comfort of car seats wee studied by utilization of engineering analysis/ experiment and human engineering data. As important factors of the static seating comfort, static spring constant, body pressure distribution, driving posture were discussed. In connection with the dynamic seating comfort, vibrational characteristics of domestic car seats(natural frequencies, damping, frequency spectrum, transmission ratio)were measured and discussed. Finally, the safety of the seat was analyzed and evaluated through calculation and experiments.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.212-219
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• 2017

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is a major problem for office workers. Individuals adopting poor postures during prolonged sitting have a considerably increased risk of experiencing LBP. This study aimed to investigate seat pressure distribution characteristics, i.e., average pressure, peak pressure ratio, frequency of postural shift, and body perceived discomfort (BPD), during 1 hour of sitting among office workers with and without chronic LBP. Methods: Forty-six participants (chronic LBP = 23, control = 23) typed a standardized text passage at a computer work station for an hour. A seat pressure mat device was used to collect the seat pressure distribution data. Body discomfort was assessed using the Body Perceived Discomfort scale. Results: Office workers with chronic LBP sat significantly more asymmetrically than their healthy counterparts. During 1-hour sitting, all workers appeared to assume slumped sitting postures after 20 minutes of sitting. Healthy workers had significantly more frequent postural shifts than chronic LBP workers during prolonged sitting. Conclusion: Different sitting characteristics between healthy and chronic LBP participants during 1 hour of sitting were found, including symmetry of sitting posture and frequency of postural shift. Further research should examine the roles of these sitting characteristics on the development of LBP.