Development an Office Ergonomic Risk Checklist: Composite Office Ergonomic Risk Assessment (CERA Office)

Abstract

Despite the continuous efforts the burden of work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (wMSDs) hasn’t been eliminated. Ergonomics risk assessment tools had been often developed on causes of different occupational diseases related to different body parts, and implemented in various forms ranging from paper-pencil worksheets to immersed virtual reality simulations.

The Composite Ergonomic Risk Assessment (CERA) was developed to assess ergonomic risks and determine intervention points by Hungarian experts for industrial and office workplaces, according to the EN 1005 Safety of machinery - Human physical performance standard.

Professionals with different background e.g. OSH specialists, occupational doctors, ergonomist participated in the development and evaluation process of CERA Office when various risk assessment methods had been tested.

The objectives of the new tool was to provide a reliable but quick health risks assessment of computer workplaces and define correction measures and improvement action plans according to different risk levels.

In the pilot period 20 different office tasks were assessed by the new risk assessment method as well as with three already widely accepted and used risk assessment tools. The control tools was Cornell University’s Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaires (CMDQ), the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA), the Rapid Office Strain Assessment (ROSA).

The statistical analysis highlighted that CERA Office tends to result on higher risk than the traditional tools. This alteration is due to the higher attention demand required by CERA Office on evaluators to analyse the movements, postures, activities more precise. CERA Office discovered weaknesses of workstations which was not identified by traditional methods used by not-proficient evaluators.

The added value of CERA Office is the collection of well defied work situations requiring intervention. CERA Office is an example to efficient and reliable ways to identify the ergonomic risks of office workplaces.