Development of a selection guide of methods for WMSD risk assessment

Abstract

The musculoskeletal disorders are now one of the major problems of health in the workplace and one of the main concerns of ergonomics and, in a certain way, impelled the appearance of several methods to assess the risks related to this subject. The work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) risk assessment methods increased very much in the last decades, an uneven development that is now the source of some difficulties regarding the methods‟ selection process. The purpose of this study was the development of a guide for the selection of methods to assess the risk of WMSD. To achieve this goal, some methods for risk assessment of WMSD associated to tasks with repetitive movements and/or critical postures had been reviewed, along with an application of an online survey, sent to the all the Portuguese H&S practitioners. The obtained results in the survey showed that, although the existence of several methods to evaluate WMSD, their use in Portuguese enterprises is scarce and that some of the methods are not well known by Portuguese practitioners, which reveal a lack of information and appropriate training. In addition, the lack of interest of the companies‟ management and/or owners, as well as the absence of workers‟ complaints, also constitutes an obstacle to the increase of the number of users of risk assessment methods. The development of the guide, as well as the individual information about the methods, input information, methods‟ classification, bibliographic references and application guide, aim at providing some orientation to the users when selecting a method to evaluate the risk in tasks associated with repetitive movements and/or the adoption of critical postures.