Preventing Work-Related Musculoskeletal Illnesses Through Ergonomics: The Air Force PREMIER Program, Volume 4B: Research Report For Level I Ergonomics Methodology Guide For Maintenance/Inspection Work Areas

This report describes the results of a pilot test to assess the reliability, sensitivity, validity, and practicality of the Level I Ergonomics Assessment Methodology Guide for Maintenance/Inspection Work Areas. Overall, the pilot test provided evidence to indicate that the developed Level I Methodology assists technicians in arriving at similar solutions as would be selected by an ergonomist for maintenance/inspection tasks. Solutions selected by the technicians agreed with the solutions selected by a consensus of ergonomists 61% of the time. Task duration appeared to play a large role in risk determination discrepancies between the Level I Methodology (both technicians and consensus ergonomists) and the Gold Standard ergonomist. High duration tasks were more likely to be rated high risk by the Level I Methodology, whereas jobs with multiple, moderate duration tasks were more likely to be rated medium risk Prepared in cooperation with Joyce Institute, Seattle, WA.