Inter-rater reliability of output measures for a posture matching assessment approach: a pilot study with food service workers

Abstract

Despite the ongoing health problem of repetitive strain injuries, there are few tools currently available for ergonomic applications evaluating cumulative loading that have well-documented evidence of reliability and validity. The purpose of this study was to determine the inter-rater reliability of a posture matching based analysis tool (3DMatch, University of Waterloo) for predicting cumulative and peak spinal loads. A total of 30 food service workers were each videotaped for a 1-h period while performing typical work activities and a single work task was randomly selected from each for analysis by two raters. Inter-rater reliability was determined using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) model 2,1 and standard errors of measurement for cumulative and peak spinal and shoulder loading variables across all subjects. Overall, 85.5% of variables had moderate to excellent inter-rater reliability, with ICCs ranging from 0.30–0.99 for all cumulative and peak loading variables. 3DMatch was found to be a reliable ergonomic tool when more than one rater is involved.

Keywords:

• reliability
• cumulative loading
• ergonomic evaluation
• posture matching

Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to the food service staff for participating in the research study. Further, we acknowledge the funding support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada and the AUTO21 research network. We also thank the work-study students who helped during data collection and preparation phases of the research project, including Albert Cho, Meghan McKinnon and Laura Nguyen. Finally, we would like to thank Doreen Bartlett for her contribution during the design phase of the present project.