Investigation of observational methods assessing workload of static working postures based on surface electromyography

BACKGROUND: A large number of different methods are available to identify and assess working postures. Although observation-based methods are most commonly used in practise, investigations showed different results regarding validity of such methods. OBJECTIVE: To investigate validity of one of the most commonly used observation-based assessment method in ergonomics, the Ovako Working Posture Analysing System (OWAS) and the European standard EN 1005-4 for evaluation of working postures, an experimental laboratory study was conducted. METHODS: Muscle activity was measured under combinations of static working postures of trunk inclination and shoulder flexion to compare these measurements and observation-based assessments according to OWAS and EN 1005-4. In order to investigate the magnitude of correspondence between muscle activity and observation-based assessments, Spearman rank correlation coefficients (r(s)) were calculated. RESULTS: Significant correlations were found between OWAS and muscle activity (range from r(s)(2) = 0.17 r(s)(2) = 0.55). Significant correlations were found between EN 1005-4 and muscle activity (range from r(s)(2) = 0.34 to r(s)(2) = 0.74). CONCLUSIONS: Results emphasise a need for further developments of observation-based methods, since the two investigated methods showed a variance of validity ranging from small to large. Such improvements may also form a better basis for the ergonomic improvement of working conditions in practise, which is highly necessary due to a constantly high prevalence of MSDs in the last decades.