This 8-week, asynchronous online course teaches students how to identify the components of occupational tasks that can contribute to musculoskeletal injury and/or fatigue, quantify the risks associated with those components using the most relevant ergonomics assessment tools, and to integrate that information into conclusions regarding the acceptability of the risk. The course will use physical ergonomics as an example of evidence-based practice by not only covering the analysis tools, but also explaining their scientific basis and outlining their strengths and limitations for various work scenarios. Students will also be introduced to the concepts of optimal task design and gain experience writing reports that summarize their findings and effectively support their conclusions. This course will challenge students to assess many practical examples from a wide variety of workplace sectors, including manufacturing, health care, agriculture and others, and interpret data from sources that will not always agree, so that decisions can be made and defended. Students will learn about the various biomechanical, psychophysical, physiological and epidemiological criteria used in physical ergonomics, and how they can be integrated during the process of decision making.
Learning Objectives
At the completion of this activity, the learner will be able to:
- Recognize, identify and prioritize the physical hazards/risks within occupational task elements that contribute to the risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders
- Review the most current biomechanical, psychophysical and physiological approaches and criteria used to quantify physical exposures and assess risk within occupational tasks
- Identify and apply the appropriate ergonomic risk assessment tool(s) to occupational tasks, citing relevant resources
- Measure and/or calculate the inputs and outputs for various ergonomics tools and interpret them appropriately
- Address the ethics of physical ergonomics analyses and interpretation
- Calculate the acceptable loads based on the target populations selected
- Analyze, synthesize and interpret the outputs of multiple ergonomic risk assessment tools (approaches) to make a definitive decision about the injury and/or fatigue risk associated with a task
- Write reports summarizing all the relevant findings and providing recommendations regarding task acceptability. Support all decisions with data and relevant sources and be able to debate and defend decisions
Course Format
The course will be taught via narrated PowerPoint lectures, guided readings, problem sets, two assignments and facilitated discussions. The first three weeks of the course will focus on an introduction to physical ergonomics and the risks and assessment of manual materials handling tasks (i.e. lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling and carrying), and the validation of ergonomic assessment tools. Weeks four through six will focus on the injury risks and assessment of tasks placing demands on the upper extremities including the shoulder. Week six will also provide an introduction to the use of digital human model software in ergonomics, and how it is leveraged in the field. Week seven will focus on occupational vibration and assessment, and week eight is reserved to prepare for and complete the final exam.
About the Instructor - Bob Fox, PhD, CPE
Dr. Bob Fox has 40 years of experience in the field of ergonomics, human factors, and physical anthropology. He has worked in General Motors North American and global ergonomics activities from 1993 to 2022 and is both an HFES and IEA Fellow. He chaired the US Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to the International Standards Organization (ISO) for anthropometry and biomechanics and chairs the Technical Standards Division for the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES). He also participates in various work groups for ANSI and ISO ergonomics standards and reports. He also participates on the NORA Cross-Sector Councils for both MSDs and Healthy Work Design, the ACGIH Physical Agents Committee, the IEA Technical Committee on Musculoskeletal Disorders, USCAR, and the ASTM F48.02 subcommittee on Human Factors and Ergonomics for exoskeletons. He has authored journal articles on manual material handling, the Revised NIOSH Lift Equation, work-related musculoskeletal disorders, and ergonomics and aging. His areas of interest and expertise include general automotive industrial ergonomics, manual material handling, upper extremity repetitive motion MSD risk analysis and prevention, warehousing and indirect labor ergonomics, and industrial mobile equipment ergonomics. He has been a Certified Professional Ergonomist (CPE) since 1996 and serves as a Lecturer at the University of Michigan.
Disclosure
Robert Fox, PhD, CPE, has no relevant financial relationships to disclose.
There was no financial or in-kind commercial support for this activity.