Showing papers in "Applied Ergonomics in 2001"

TL;DR: It was determined that microbreaks had a positive effect on reducing discomfort in all areas studied during computer terminal work, particularly when breaks were taken at 20 min intervals, and the underlying cause of MNF cycling remains to be determined.

TL;DR: The proposed method is based on the new experimental data for composite index of perceived discomfort (ratio values) for a set of joint motions, including the hand, arm, neck and back, and the corresponding maximum holding times in static postures, and can be used for evaluating and redesigning static working postures in industry.

TL;DR: Results showed greater compliance with interventions that incorporated new assistive patient-handling equipment, as opposed to those consisting of education and technique training alone, and the use of mechanical assistive devices may not always be the best approach to reducing back injuries in all situations.

TL;DR: Organizational and psychosocial factors at work and outside work did not show any significant changes during the study period and significant reduction in visual discomfort after interventions was reported.

TL;DR: Both older male and female workers had higher rates of reported STF accidents than younger workers, but it was established that within any one occupation the workplace hazards were common to all.

TL;DR: While individual participants exhibited different susceptibilities to nausea associated with VR simulation containing scene oscillations along different rotational axes, the overall effects of axis among the authors' group of 16 randomly selected participants were not significant.

TL;DR: The participatory ergonomics program was used in the rehabilitation of workers suffering from subacute back pain for more than 6 weeks, a program that was associated with an increased rate of return to work.

TL;DR: The number of repetitive movements/minute and mean power frequency of the electrogoniometer data was significantly related, showing both variables to be relevant measures of repetitiveness.

TL;DR: The device, configured as a boning knife, was sensitive to differences in grip forces and applied moments in a simulated meat cutting task requiring distinct levels of precision and had good linearity with minimal hysteresis or creep.

TL;DR: Intervention measures were recommended that target STFA risks at three levels: slip resistance, exposure to hazardous conditions, and employee behaviour in the face of hazardous conditions.

TL;DR: The results indicated that the ranking of materials based on their slip resistance values depends highly on the slipmeters, floor surfaces and surface conditions.

TL;DR: While observing six simulated construction tasks in the field, trained analysts recorded arm, trunk and leg postures categorically with two fixed-interval observational protocols to suggest that, under appropriate conditions, discrete observations can be used to obtain reasonably accurate estimates of exposure frequency for broad categories of certain body postures.

TL;DR: Stairs are one of the most hazardous locations in buildings and one aspect of stair design, the "going" (the horizontal distance between two consecutive nosings) can be changed to decrease the potential number of serious trip accidents.

TL;DR: Overall, there seems to be consistent evidence to support mid-level or somewhat higher placement, as a rule-of-thumb, considering preferred gaze angle and musculoskeletal concerns, however, optimal placement may be lower for some individuals or tasks.

TL;DR: The physiological and neuromuscular strain on the nurses indicated that extreme care should be exercised at work, particularly towards the end of a work shift when the muscles have become fatigued.

TL;DR: No training effect is found for the aerobic power, and a discrepancy between work demand and individual aerobic capacity may occur among elderly workers resulting in a negative health effect unless the work task is evaluated according to age dependent criteria.

TL;DR: Foot PPT is a promising quantitative indicator of effects of standing work and is linked to precise descriptions of workplace activity in 10 sales and kitchen workers who worked standing.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compared the slip resistance of AP66033 with dual density polyurethane (DDP) solings and some rubber solings on wet and oily surfaces.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report findings from a multidisciplinary programme of research, the major aims of which were to determine the nature and extent of the New Zealand adventure tourism injury problem.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that heart rate indices could be used as an effective means of determining the physiological strain of subjects working in New Zealand's commercial forest harvesting operations.

TL;DR: What this has involved, where it has been successful and where there have been difficulties is explained, to share the experience of trying to tackle hospital manual handling risks by taking an ergonomic approach.

TL;DR: It appears that the majority of the radial/ulnar crosStalk measured with System A was intrinsic crosstalk due to the twisting of the goniometer transducer.

TL;DR: In body mass, males 30-39 years of age had significantly higher body mass than the 20-29 years old, while this was not the case in females, and there were no significant differences in stature between the two age groups.

TL;DR: The results showed that external oblique and erector spinae had significantly different activation patterns depending on twisting direction, which implies that work in twisted trunk postures might be a risk factor for low-back pain.

TL;DR: When using a desktop personal computer (PC), no change was observed in muscle hardness even after a 30-min task if a subject was in the reference posture with a declination angle formed by the Reid's line directed toward the upper edge of the PC screen and the horizontal plane within 5-10 degrees.

TL;DR: Seven cases are described where products have been developed to reduce the physical load on scaffolders, bricklayers, bricklayer's assistants, roofworkers, aircraft loaders, glaziers and assembly line workers and a list of key factors contributing to the success of a product is composed.

TL;DR: There is an almost linear relationship between mean pressure and body mass index and in all cases the air seating system performed better with regards to the static pressure gradients.

TL;DR: The results indicate that the body dimensions of Mexican children from this study are different from those of American, Cuban, and other Mexican children, probably due to ethnic differences and the time lapse between the different studies.

TL;DR: A good indicator of surface slip resistance probably should consist of the surface parameters representing the surface slope, the surface void volume and the surface peak-to-valley distance with the coefficients determined by the system parameters.

TL;DR: It is found that the percentage decrease in strength with age is similar for men and women, and calculation of unmeasured forces by means of a general strength score could be possible.