Video Transcript: How to Assess Jobs for MSD Risk Factors

When it comes to evaluating a job for MSD risk factors, it can often feel like there is a gap between overly simple checklist-style assessments and highly detailed task-level assessments like the NIOSH Lifting Equation, REBA, RULA, and the Snook Tables.

The simple checklists are often so broad that they don’t help you quantify risk or provide much useful guidance, and the task-level assessments are so specific that it’s impractical and time-consuming to evaluate every single task at every job at your worksite, so it’s hard to know where to start and where to finish.

So what we need is another tool that is at the job-level, quantitative in nature, and comprehensively evaluates for all workplace-related musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) risk factors so you end up with clear view of the risk present for each job at your worksite. The tool needs to be easy to use and quick to complete.

This is exactly what we’ve created with the ErgoPlus Job Screen.

The ergonomic principles behind the Job Screen are relatively simple.

Research tells us there are three primary ergonomic risk factors leading to the development of MSDs: high force loads, awkward postures, and repetitive movements.

Risk increases when there is a combination of these risk factors present in a job, especially when high force loads are required.

Research also tells us the human body’s capacity to withstand these risk factors so that we can determine acceptable risk thresholds for each body segment. This research has led to the development of many ergonomic assessment tools that allow us to quantify ergonomic risk factors.

Drawing on this research, the Job Screen measures each primary ergonomic risk factor for each major body segment. The combination of risk factors present for a body segment results in a risk score for that body segment based on that body segment’s acceptable risk threshold.

Additional risk factors like contact stress, impact stress, hand-arm vibration, and exposure duration are also considered in the tool.

The risk scores for each body segment and the risk scores for these additional risk factors add up to a final risk score for the job. This final score is then translated into Low, Moderate, High, and Very High category bands.

In addition to the risk scoring, specific tasks in the job can be flagged for further assessment using task-level tools like the NIOSH Lifting Equation, REBA, RULA, and the Snook Tables depending on the nature of the task.

As you can see from the outputs of the tool, it meets the criteria of being a job-level tool that considers all the primary tasks of the job, it’s quantitative in nature, and it comprehensively evaluates for all workplace-related MSD risk factors.

The first thing we love about the Job Screen is that it’s practical enough to use and accurate enough to trust.

There is a tension in ergonomics between pinpoint accuracy and having a tool that is practical enough for everyday use. The Job Screen strikes that balance perfectly in our view. It is easy to use, assessments only take about 30 minutes depending on the task variation present in the job, and our data has shown that higher Job Screen scores correlate with higher musculoskeletal discomfort and injury rates.

Another reason we love the Job Screen is because it gives you exactly the information you need to quantify and control ergonomic risk factors.

Remember, research has shown that the primary ergonomic risk factors are force, posture, and repetition and that the more ergonomic risk factors present the more risk there is. The objective of your ergonomics process is to identify and control these risks. The Job Screen helps you do exactly that. The tool systematically helps you measures each ergonomic risk factor for each major body segment.

This is precisely the information you need in order to have an effective ergonomics process. Without this information, there are major gaps in the ergonomics knowledge of your worksite and you can’t arrive here with a simple checklist or task-level tools alone.

The last thing we love about the Job Screen is that it puts your ergonomics data in a usable form.

Using a job-level assessment tool with risk categories of Low, Moderate, High, and Very High puts your data into a usable form because you can create a risk profile of your worksite that is measurable over time.

Each bar in this chart represents the percentage of jobs at this worksite at Unknown, Low, Moderate, High, and Very High Risk for each time period. And remember, the Job Screen evaluates each primary ergonomic risk factor for each major body segment and it measures additional risk factors, so this chart is quite literally telling you how many risk factors exist at your site.

So you can see that at the beginning as this site was just starting out, most jobs were at unknown risk. Over time, as more assessments were completed, it starts to fill out. As more time goes on and more assessments are added and some workplace improvements are made, the risk profile starts to fill out and we start to see some jobs go from High and Very High risk down to Moderate to Low risk.

Given that lower Job Screen scores correlate with lower musculoskeletal discomfort and injuries, any improvement in your risk profile means you are making progress toward the objective of your ergonomics process.

This really tells the story on how effective your ergonomics process is at identifying and controlling MSD risk factors.

So as you can see, the Job Screen bridges the gap between checklist-style assessments and task-level assessments perfectly.

What’s great about this is that now you can use all three styles of tools together to efficiently assess your worksite.

You can use a simple, checklist-style tool in employee surveys and in site walkthroughs to identify jobs that have MSD risk factors present. These tools are an escalation tool. Any job with a known risk factor should be flagged for further assessment with the Job Screen.

After you conduct the Job Screen, you’ll have risk scores for each body segment, a risk score for the job, and you’ll have flagged tasks where there are high levels of MSD risk present. So if you want to, you can then do a deep dive on those tasks with task-level tools like the NIOSH Lifting Equation.

Having a complete set of assessment tools like this is a systematic and efficient way to comprehensively assess your site for MSD risk factors and it’s all made possible with the Job Screen.

The Job Screen is available to everyone inside ErgoPlus Industrial, our cloud-based ergonomics management software. You can schedule a demo of ErgoPlus Industrial to see the Job Screen in action and see how you can use it as part of a comprehensive set of ergonomic assessment tool that all work together to accelerate your ergonomics initiatives. So schedule your demo today and we’ll talk soon.