The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Effects of ergonomic worksite changes on risks for cumulative trauma disorders of the upper body in an assembly and press operation job
Author:	Mahone, David B.
View Online:	njit-etd1995-095 (xi, 128 pages ~ 3.8 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Degree:	Master of Science
Program:	Industrial Engineering
Document Type:	Thesis
Advisory Committee:	Gage, Howard (Committee chair) Spencer, Thomas (Committee member) Kristol, David S. (Committee member)
Date:	1995-05
Keywords:	Human engineering. Industrial hygiene. Industrial safety.
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	Cumulative trauma of the upper body is associated with a variety of individual and job factors. An effort to optimize the human-hardware interface to minimize cumulative trauma is favored. Workers in a set of jobs had complained about hand/wrist and shoulder discomfort. One job was selected for testing alternate machine controls and worksite layout. Electromyography was used to test muscle activity, and photogoniometry was used to measure posture. For the group of ten worker-subjects, statistically significant decreases in hand/wrist and shoulder muscle activity were found. A marginal, but significant increase in neck muscle activity was also found. When one subject was excluded, improvements were unchanged and the increase in neck muscle activity was not significant for three of four types of analysis of variance. While statistical improvement was identified, the question of clinical significance cannot be answered at this time.