Reliability and usability of the ergonomic workplace method for assessing working environments

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the reliability and usability of the ergonomic workplace method (EWM) in evaluating sedentary, standing and physically active work. Six observers, ergonomists, occupational health experts, a work supervisor and a labour protection officer, making up three pairs of experts, participated in the study. They assessed the working conditions of three separate tasks, twice, from videotapes. The consistency of their assessments was determined from the percentages of agreement and the Kappa coefficient. Intra-observer reliability was assessed from the inter-measurement deviations. The overall consistency between the observer assessments was good. The intra-observer reliability was high. The EWM covered both rapidly assessed and time-consuming items. It is well suited for observing sedentary, standing and physically active work. All persons whose tasks involve the assessment of working conditions can use the method after being trained.

Keywords:

• ergonomics
• observation method
• sedentary work
• standing work
• physically active work

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Professor Veikko Louhevaara and Maija Lintula, M.Sc., for their advice during this study. Thanks are due to Seija Savolainen, PT, Heljä Poikolainen, an occupational health nurse, Raimo Hartikainen, a medical warrant officer and Matti Hakkarainen, chief of the section, for their valuable work in this study. The authors thank the workers of the Kuopio Depot for their co-operation.