L7: Assessment of manual tasks in industry Flashcards
What is an occupational health physio?
- An exciting career pathway with many directions
- Clinical physiotherapist merging musculoskeletal skills into occupational environments
- Injury and case management
- Occupational health and safety
- Policy
- Clinical scope of work
- Injury management: worksite assessments, return to work planning, functional capacity exams, work hardening programs, physiotherapy treatment
- Injury prevention focus: risk assessments, task analysis, training, ergonomic assessments, health and well being programs, early intervention physiotherapy
- Prevention is better than cure
- Onsite physiotherapy or consulting
What is ergonomics?
Ergonomics is the scientific study of human work
‘Work’ can be used in its broadest or narrowest sense
Greek ergon (work) + nomos (law) focusses on the study of work performance with an emphasis on worker safety and productivity
What are 3 scopes of ergonomics?
What is the scope of ergonomics (direct and indirect effects)?
Why is ergonomics important?
- People define themselves by work
- Need to understand what is happening in the work place
- Between ¼ to 1/3 of our time is spent at work
- Work health and safety legislation states workplace must provide a safe and healthy work environment
Is work good for us?
- Work can expose us to dangers
- For some workers they are at greater risk of harm when at work, compared to not being at work
In general, good, meaningful work is better for health than not working, but we need to consider the nature and quality of work
_______ are the most common workplace injury as ergonomics is important.
Musculoskeletal disorders
What are 3 significant impacts of musculoskeletal disorders as the most common workplace injury?
- Individual
- Workplace
- Productivity on company
- Society
- Burden on healthcare system
What are causes of MSD’s?
What are 3 most common mechanisms of injury for MSD’s?
- Slips / Trips / Falls
- Hit by an object
- Manual tasks
What is the definition of manual task?
A task that requires a person to lift, lower, push, pull, carry or otherwise move, hold or restrain any person animal or thing = life
Different feedback throughout the day
What are 5 risks of hazardous manual task?
EXAM QUESTION
When a job or task involves one or more of the following
- Repetitive or sustained force
- High or sudden force
- Repetitive movement
- Sustained and/or awkward posture
- Exposure to vibration
Often there are 2 or more risk factors present
What are some examples of hazardous manual tasks?
What is a repetitive force?
Using force repeatedly over a period of time to move or support an object
Repeated more than twice a minute
What is a sustained force?
Occurs when force is applied continually over a period of time
Held for more than 30 seconds at a time