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Univeristy of Limerick Prof. Tim Gallwey and Dr Leonard O'Sullivan MIRTH EU Project ergonomics tools
Procedure for performing an injury reduction approach Work analysis 1. Perform an analysis on the existing work using the appropriate evaluation technique. The evaluation toolset for industrial work range in complexity from the most simple to most detailed i.e. RULA, REBA, SI, OCRA. The choice depends on your knowledge of ergonomics principles. It is suggested that those with limited ergonomics knowledge use RULA and REBA initially. These are good screening tools and are good to highlight high risk tasks. Expert ergonomists may find SI or OCRA useful for a more in-depth analysis. MIRTH office can be used for office environments. 2. The Cameron Questionnaire can be used for employees/users to rate body part discomfort during their work. It is recommended that this is used in conjunction with an evaluation method. Discomfort is regarded as a precursor to injury in industry, therefore indicative of risk of injury for the work. Work improvement 3. Modify the task design using the MIRTH reduction points in the help file. 4. Re-evaluate the task to review the risk ratings. 5. It is good practice to adopt an iterative approach in ergonomic task design by performing an evaluation and risk reduction on the task a number of times to optimize the quality of the solution.
Project background
Background: A consortium was set up through the EU "Growth" programme to develop Musculo-skeletal Injury Reduction Tools for Health and safety (MIRTH). The partners are: University of Darmstadt (co-ordinator), DaimlerChrysler Bremen plant, University of Limerick, TECMATH (RAMSIS man-model), Institute of Biomechanics Valencia (IBV), Systema Informatics (internet software), and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH). University of Darmstadt is concentrating on research into the applicability of existing tools in automobile assembly work and developing improvements to use in MIRTH. FIOH will concentrate on injuries in E-commerce and IBV will provide tools to model the biomechanics of the injuries. The final tool will be programmed for use in conjunction with RAMSIS. The total value of the project is €1.6M approximately.
Project
Description: The
final result of the project will be a software tool usable by a
wide cross-section of people employed in the design of products
and workplaces. It
will be offered on the Internet with a Computer Based Training
program (developed by Systema) and a CD-ROM with a suite of case
study applications to assist users.
The whole project is scheduled to last three years and the
products will be available about a year after that.
Due to their ease of use and speed, these tools will enable
more situations to be analysed, in more detail, more thoroughly,
and in less time. Significant
gains are expected in worker health, productivity, and quality of
work and analyses across a wide range of Ergonomics interventions
show a likely benefit:cost ratio of about 10:1.
Objectives:
Personnel: Prof. Tim Gallwey, Dr. Leonard O'Sullivan, Researchers:
Mr Abid Khan, Mr. Prabir
Mukhopadhyay, Mr. Eoin Kennedy.
Links:
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