Mise à l'essai en situation réelle de différentes méthodes d'évaluation de l'exposition aux facteurs de risque de troubles musculo-squelettiques

A number of methods for assessing exposure to risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) have been developed by researchers during the past years. Taking into consideration the great number of these methods and their possible importance in a systematic MSD prevention process, a study aimed at testing them in real work settings is necessary. Such a study was developed by the "Chaire de recherche du Canada en ergonomie" (CRCE) in order to guide ergonomics experts and practitioners towards the most suitable assessment methods. In this study, it is anticipated that nearly one hundred working stations will be followed up over a four years period using a number of the assessment tools and methods available in the recent scientific literature. The report presented here constitutes the first phase of the CRCE study. The general objective of this paper is to present the field trial of ten assessment methods carried out at six working stations in a manufacturing company located in the province of Quebec.

More specifically, this study initially aims to assess exposure to musculoskeletal disorders risk factors at each workplace studied and also to evaluate the usability of the assessment methods. Considering these goals, the following methods were used: "Finnish Institute of Occupational Health" (FIOH), "Quick Exposure Check" (QEC), "Rapid Entire Body Assessment" (REBA), "Rapid Upper Limb Assessment" (RULA), "Occupational Repetitive Action" (OCRA), "Hand Activity Level" (HAL), "Job Strain Index" (JSI), "A Guide to Manual Materials Handling", 3DSSPP Software and 4DWatbak Software. Furthermore, the present study proposes data analyses to compare (1) the results of the ten assessment methods, and (2) the exposure to MSD risk exposure before and after correctives actions are implemented. The study also aims to propose data analyses that could reveal links between the results of the methods, the pain felt by the workers and the perception of the actors for each workstation studied. Finally, it is proposed to reveal possible links between the productivity and the health and safety arising from the ergonomic evaluations performed.

All things considered, the first outcome of this research is to provide a systematic methodology which could be deployed on a larger scale in the CRCE study. It also brings information which could be used later on to build a decision tree. The purpose of this decision tree would be to guide various practitioners towards the assessment method that best meet their needs.