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BACKGROUND: Aircraft maintenance technicians (AMTs) have the most difficulty in terms of total workload criteria working in line maintenance. This is a very important problem for the Aircraft Maintenance Organization. A systematic and scientific approach is required for its solution. OBJECTIVE: This study proposes a new Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) based approach to evaluating the total workloads of AMTs to identify the most challenging AMT tasks in the aircraft maintenance organization. METHODS: A new hybrid MCDM approach is proposed by integrating the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity (TOPSIS) methods to compare AMTs on the basis of workloads according to license categories. The hybrid method proposed in this study evaluates the total workload under three main titles: mental, physical, and environmental workload. RESULTS: Focusing on AMTs working in line maintenance of an aircraft maintenance organization, this study revealed that the most important workload criteria determined by the DEMATEL method are lower back strain, upper back strain, time pressure, and air temperature criteria. The results of the TOPSIS method showed that the license categories of AMTs are sorted according to the workloads as follows: A, B2, B1, and B1 + B2. The AMTs holding a "Category A" license have fewer workloads than the other categories. CONCLUSION: The findings of the study reveal some measures that might allow authorities to minimize the workload of AMTs. In addition, the study contributes to the literature because there are few studies that systematically analyze total workloads by using MCDM methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: As older adults prefer to live in their homes, it is of paramount importance to examine the adaptation of the environment to the older adults' capabilities. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate psychometric properties of a scale to measure physical environment problems and barriers in older adults' homes using an ergonomic approach in Iran. METHODS: This mixed-method investigation was conducted in two stages in Yazd, Iran. The primary 71-item version of the questionnaire was developed according to qualitative findings and a thorough review of the literature. Then the psychometric characteristics, including face, content, construct validity, were assessed. Content validity was also assessed using CVI and CVR. Finally, its reliability and construct validity were confirmed by composite reliability (CR), Fornell-Larker matrix, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using Smart PLS software version 3. RESULTS: The face validity of the developed scale was acceptable, and the mean scores of CVI and CVR were 0.78 and 0.84, respectively. The preliminary draft of the scale was categorized into seven dimensions. Factor validity and reliability were confirmed by acceptable factor loadings, and desirable realms of composite reliability (>0.7) average variance extracted (>0.5). The cross-loading method and the Fornell-Larker matrix were used to evaluate the divergent validity of the scale, and the results confirmed its acceptable fit. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicated that reliability reached acceptable values, and different aspects of validity were almost confirmed. Accordingly, the questionnaire was to measure physical environment problems and barriers in older adults' homes; however, it requires further validation for future use in other contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: In times of the COVID-19 pandemic, employees around the world may be practicing part-time telework at home. Little is known about the working conditions at home and its impact on the employee's occupational health. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review examines the working conditions at employees' homes, the work-related disorders associated with working from home, organizations' perceptions of ergonomics at home and how they support their teleworkers. METHODS: A search of electronic databases (Cochrane Library, Embase, Medline, Google Scholar, Open Grey, Pedro, PsychInfo, PubPsych, Scopus and Web of Science) was performed. Twelve studies were included in this review. RESULTS: The findings highlight the lack of ergonomic working conditions for home-based teleworkers. Furthermore, the results underline organizations' lack of awareness regarding home-based policies, ergonomics programs and the health-related consequences associated with the absence of ergonomic support. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that home-based teleworkers have increased health risks. This assumption is substantiated by the fact that most of the included studies reported teleworkers who have experienced musculoskeletal issues. These results underline the necessity for implementing ergonomic design recommendations, especially for working at home. Further research is needed to understand the impact of ergonomics programs and workplace design for working at home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The main purpose of ergonomics is environment adaptation to humans, and the root cause of the barriers and problems of the older adults is the mismatch between the home environment and their limitations. OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to identify and explain physical environment barriers and problems among older adults' homes in Yazd, Iran. METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted as conventional content analysis. In total, 53 participants including 36 older adults and 17 caregivers were enrolled in the study. The participants were selected using convenience and purposive sampling methods, while the data collection method was a semi-structured interview. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, and then analyzed using MAXQDA11 software. RESULTS: Following data analysis, 268 initial codes were extracted. They were classified into three major categories and 31 sub categories. The main categories are "barriers and problems associated with older adults' sensory limitations," "barriers and problems associated with older adults' motor limitations," and "barriers and problems associated with older adults' cognitive limitations." CONCLUSIONS: Although the data collected from the older adults and their caregivers are in many cases similar, caregivers can provide reasons for the barriers and problems as well as solutions better than the older adults. The data also indicate that most of the problems and barriers are related to motor limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) represent a significant health challenge facing nurses. However, very few studies investigated the prevalence of WMSDs among nurses and their predictors comprehensively using a valid and reliable set of standardized outcome measures. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence WMSDs of upper quadrants and their predictors among registered nurses in Jordanian hospitals. METHODS: A cross-sectional study recruited 597 registered nurses from different hospitals in Jordan. A self-administered survey distributed in targeted hospitals wards. Outcome measures included Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ), Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), sociodemographic data, and manual handling and work habits. Prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints was reported using descriptive analysis. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify predictors of WMSDs at each upper quadrant body site. RESULTS: Twelve-month WMSDs prevalence was the highest at the neck (61.1%), followed by the upper back (47.2%), shoulders (46.7%), wrist and hands (27.3%), and finally at the elbow (13.9%). Being a female, poor sleep quality, high physical activity level, poor ergonomics, increased workload, and mental stress were significant predictors of increased upper quadrant WMSDs among nurses. CONCLUSIONS: Upper quadrant WMSDs among nurses in Jordan are highly prevalent. Identified significant predictors of these WMSDs should be given full consideration by clinicians and health policymakers. Future studies are needed to reveal the progressive nature of upper quadrant WMSDs and strategies to modify their risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Manual material handling (MMH) task is the most common cause of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Operators carrying unstable loads were recently shown to be at greater risk of back injury compared to workers carrying stable loads. OBJECTIVE: This study focused on developing a device to minimize trunk muscle activity and cardiovascular demand while handling a 19-liter bottle. METHOD: After evaluating several designs, one was selected to be developed, manufactured and tested through an experimental study. Healthy participants (n = 42) manually carried a 19-liter bottle. The carrying technique (i.e., carrying a lateral load while holding the load using the dominant hand, pulling the load using the developed device, carrying the load on the back using the developing device) was the independent variable. The muscular activities (e.g., neck extensor, upper trapezius, pectoralis major, deltoid medial, rectus abdominis, and erector spinae muscles of the dominant side), cardiac costs, plantar pressures, walking speeds, and subjective measures were the dependent variables. RESULTS: Results show that carrying the developed device like a backpack significantly reduced trunk muscle activity, cardiovascular demand, and plantar pressure compared to the usual practice. The present results suggest that carrying a 19-liter water bottle using the developed device is likely to contribute to lower MSDs. CONCLUSION: Implementation of the develop device recommended to lessen the risk of injury when handling unstable loads such as liquids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Computer works are associated with Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs). There are several methods have been developed to assess computer work risk factor related to MSDs. OBJECTIVE: This review aims to give an overview of current techniques available for pen-and-paper-based observational methods in assessing ergonomic risk factors of computer work. METHODS: We searched an electronic database for materials from 1992 until 2015. The selected methods were focused on computer work, pen-and-paper observational methods, office risk factors and musculoskeletal disorders. This review was developed to assess the risk factors, reliability and validity of pen-and-paper observational method associated with computer work. Two evaluators independently carried out this review. RESULTS: Seven observational methods used to assess exposure to office risk factor for work-related musculoskeletal disorders were identified. The risk factors involved in current techniques of pen and paper based observational tools were postures, office components, force and repetition. From the seven methods, only five methods had been tested for reliability. They were proven to be reliable and were rated as moderate to good. For the validity testing, from seven methods only four methods were tested and the results are moderate. CONCLUSION: Many observational tools already exist, but no single tool appears to cover all of the risk factors including working posture, office component, force, repetition and office environment at office workstations and computer work. Although the most important factor in developing tool is proper validation of exposure assessment techniques, the existing observational method did not test reliability and validity. Futhermore, this review could provide the researchers with ways on how to improve the pen-and-paper-based observational method for assessing ergonomic risk factors of computer work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In students with physical disabilities, the more energy and time required and invested into finding a good posture, the longer the learning process takes. For this reason, the objective of this study was to characterize the posture in the act of writing of wheelchair users in a classroom. Eight students, (three women) aged 18-40, of some of the main universities of the city of Santiago de Cali participated. An observational field study filming of approximately 10 minutes was done while they took notes in their classes. Posture of the head, trunk, and upper extremities was analyzed with respect to its axis and the type of movement in each joint. The postures were classified depending on the location of support surface finding five different postures in the eight students. In these five postures some biomechanical risk factors, usually present in wheelchair users, are increased when they are associated with those postures. Those associated risk factors are: possible disc spine deformation, muscular stress and causing of pressure ulcer. In conclusion, in four of these five postures a poor interaction among person, task and work desk was observed. Therefore, seven of the eight students in this study were found to have a posture that could be considered risky. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The context of oil platform design is changing in order to increase competitiveness and be prepared for difficult operations, mainly in fields more distant from the coast, like pre-salt. The currently preceding context is marked by projects guidelines designed to reduce projects and operation costs, including an important reducing in the number of people on board. The main objective of this research is to verify and discuss if the experience of use in platforms designed in a previous context, in which the people on board is practically twice, can contribute and/or can be transferred to new projects. From the ergonomic intervention in the design of two oil platform, with the work of team on board investigated on previous projects as reference, it was possible analyze if the previous use is still applicable to new projects. As a result, about 90% of the recommendations based on use are applicable to the current context. The restrictions on the transfer or operational experience are mainly related to the time of entry of ergonomics in the design process, the subsequent transformations costs and the advance of the execution phase started with the detailed design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are situations in the operation of complex machinery which is significant pressure. In need of capturing, interpreting and processing information from instruments, often in seconds. This occurs in the middle where it operates the pilot and the aircraft will be established a set of operations that will culminate with a maneuver, consisting of a substantial and binding set of procedures performed for this driver. This has little time to evaluate and act, supported by aircraft instruments and external environmental signals captured by the senses, which will stimulate conditioned actions that, if executed without due accuracy, is reflected in a deadly mistake. These situations cause a state of tension and unpredictability, especially when there is bad weather and / or no visibility and bad wind conditions occur and are not supportive or even shrinkage, or even partial or total ability to operate the airplane happen.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents one Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) done in a child care institution in the city of Florianópolis, in south of Brazil. The objective of this work is to analyze the environment's performance of the child care center considering the well-being of all of its users, with the mainly focus in the teacher's work. For this analyze, was used a multi methods approach, using consecrated evaluations in the area of environmental psychology and ergonomic. The methods used were: Exploratory Visit, Walkthrough, Questionnaires, Observations, Ergonomic Analyze and Poem of Wishes. The methodological procedures used enabled the identification of the main problems that committed the interaction between environment, user and task, which in addition to serve as an argument to the recommendations done to the analyzed Institution, form a repertory that can serve as a base to future projects in institutions with the same character. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the processes and the results of the application of some ergonomic techniques, used to evaluate the usability of the virtual learning environment adopted by the Distance Education Center of the Federal Institute of Espírito Santo - Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The posture, a good organization and the proper layout of the environment and workplaces have a positive influence on the income of an employee. To develop the work it is used a methodology that addressed the study phases of the theory involving the subject, description of the current situation, preparation of conceptions, choice of design, implementation and reporting of results. Through the project of 'Change of the layout of an office of a metallurgical company' there was an intervention in these reported aspects providing improvements in the office, regarding ergonomic, layout, workplace and lighting issues, bringing welfare to the official, with the intent to improve its performance within the company and facilitating its actions, as the company's customer service. The results provided improvements in layout, in the workplace and especially in comfort for the human resources that perform their activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cold environment is an indispensable for slaughtering and processing in the poultry industry In field studies it was observed that a large percentage of workers of this sector have hand contact with the cold chicken and / or frozen, have high complaints prevalence of pain and discomfort, mostly in the hands. The contact of human skin with a cold surface may cause pain, numbness and risk of skin damage. Currently, although the use of infrared thermal imaging has been useful in identifying normal and abnormal patterns of heat distribution on the surface of the body. However your use for work tasks and to assess the potential development of injuries related to it has been limited. Based on the physiological responses can be objectively evaluate the effects of the task demands of work and thus contribute to the development of effective strategies for ergonomic intervention. The methodology will be used to evaluate the subjective thermal sensation with analogue scale of ASHRAE and the infrared thermography in the dorsal and palmar hands. Thus the objective of this research is to propose reference values for thermographic hands within limits of comfort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schoolbag use by children is a global common concern.. Children carry school books and other amenities in their school bags. Global evidence indicates that daily load carried by school children may have negative health implications. Backpack as a school bag model, is the healthiest way of load carriage for school children. Several initiatives have been launched world over to minimize unhealthy consequences resulting from schoolbags. Based on a situation analysis, Sri Lanka implemented a national healthy schoolbag campaign by joint efforts of Ministries of Health and Education. Actions were contemplated on; strategies for bag weight reduction, introduction of an ergonomically modeled schoolbag and bag behaviour change. New strategies were introduced with awareness campaigns to policy makers, bag manufacturers, parents, teachers and children. Four million schoolchildren benefitted. In 2000, the backpack strategy of 'Pack it Light, Wear it Right' was started as a public health initiative in the United States by the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). Over the last eleven years, thousands of occupational therapy practitioners and students participated in educational programs and outreach activities. In 2004, modeled after the success AOTA initiative, the Icelandic Occupational Therapy Association launched a national backpack awareness initiative. This article shares examples of practices that could be implemented in any context to the promote health of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This article presents two ergonomic studies carried out when two French administrative bodies modernized their work tools. Our objective was to identify and define the vocational learning of experienced technicians who were required to adopt new working methods to cope with these technological changes. Methods: We observed the work activity of technicians of different ages and length of service both before and during training, and also after their return to their work unit during the appropriation phase. Results: These two studies revealed some difficulties that were common to all the technicians and others that were more specific to the older employees. In terms of the design of the training course, we were able to point out some mistaken assumptions about the technicians' original command of the work activity and the computers, which made it difficult for them to adopt new work procedures. Conclusion: The difficulties encountered by the older employees were ultimately found to be more an indication of organizational problems to do with the management of change rather than training problems due to age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classic instrument design does not always match the physical capacity of the musician, as instruments are often chosen because of the pleasing sound and not the ease of play. Devices that are commercially available to create a more ergonomic structure may not address the specific needs of a musician with a chronic condition. Through basic splinting of the musician with an injury, these physical stressors can be reduced, allowing the continuation of musical practice and performance. Appropriate design modification requires a solid understanding of upper extremity anatomy, splint design technique, and the biomechanic principles of playing the instrument. Through knowledge of music theory and appreciation, one may modify the instrument while protecting tonal flexibility, resonance, mechanical freedom, and sound quality. Two case studies present a range of splint design, from small to large, static to dynamic, and for congenital or chronic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally back pain in the nursing profession is associated with heavy lifting of patients. Although there is a strong relationship between heavy loads on the spine and lifting patients, literature indicates that there is a major factor that should not be underestimated: static load. Static load can be defined as the result of static, not moving, not dynamic, working positions. For example when a caregiver is washing a patient on a bed which is too low, her back is in a static (bended) stooped position up to several minutes. Exposure to static load is an underestimated silent killer of nurses musculoskeletal system . There is evidence from this cross-sectional study that static load can be reduced by a combination of introducing the right equipment, creating awareness and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]