International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics最新文献

The maternal mortality rate in the US increased significantly from 20.1 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2019 to 32.9 in 2021. Black women have a higher rate of mortality and also experience higher rates of severe maternal morbidity, which are life-threating maternal health complications. However, maternal mortality and SMM are preventable with timely and responsive care, suggesting opportunities to intervene at the point of care. To examine processes contributing to adverse maternal outcomes and racial/ethnic disparities in these outcomes, we analyzed 550 incident report (IRs) collected in the maternity units of a large academic hospital in 2019 and 2020. IRs were disaggregated by race/ethnicity and the IR narratives were coded using the systems factors from the SEIPS 2.0 model. Tasks (40%) and organization (30%) were most frequently reported SEIPS 2.0 categories. The majority of these incidents were the result of omissions (15%), staffing (9%), teamwork and coordination (7%), specimen labeling errors (7%), and hospital protocols (6%). These findings from this analysis can improve system safety and support the development of targeted efforts to improve health equity for women and birthing of people of color.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is used by workers in a wide range of industries to minimise the risk of exposure to occupational hazards. While various effects associated with their use have been investigated, there is a lack of insight on how PPE can act as a stressor, especially for non-healthcare workers. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of non-healthcare workers on the various impacts caused by common PPE types (i.e., hearing and respiratory protective devices) that may affect an individual's well-being. The study employed a cross-sectional research method via online survey, which was distributed globally targeting workers in PPE-dependent industries (with the exception of health care), and designed to explore workers' PPE usage patterns, their perceptions of how PPE impacted them, and to report any specific symptoms they experienced associated with the usage of PPE (n = 234). Communication impairments were identified as the main issue reported for both types of PPE. Frequent users of respirators perceived the use of these forms of PPE to not be helpful or effective in protecting them at work. Infrequent users of hearing protection were found to be significantly impacted by a reduction in their ability to communicate, form social and working relationships, and felt their awareness levels in the workplace were affected. Discomfort and headaches were frequently reported symptoms associated with both types of PPE, with breathing difficulties being another commonly reported symptom for those who use respirators.

Virtual reality technology has shown potential for rehabilitation training, and spatial presence and flow experience have emerged as two important factors for explaining the virtual reality experience. We designed a new non-immersive upper limb rehabilitation training system to analyze the effects of spatial presence and flow on the user experience in virtual reality and its acceptance of technology using a technology acceptance model. This study's results showed that spatial presence has no significant effect on perceived usefulness (β = 0.102, p = 0.062), some degree of positive effect on perceived ease of use (β = 0.197, p = 0.010), and a significant positive effect on the flow experience (β = 0.535, p < 0.001). Flow experience influenced attitude and behavioral intention at different levels (β = 0.144, p = 0.001; β = 0.372, p < 0.001), and 76.9% and 78.2% variance were observed in user attitude and behavioral intention, respectively. In a multi-group analysis, the results showed that females were more susceptible to spatial presence, whereas males' attitudes toward the system were more susceptible to the flow experience. Good spatial presence will improve flow experience and positively influence the continuous use of rehabilitation training.

This study aims to summarize the literature on the risk factors for the incidence of nonspecific neck pain in industrial workers. Electronic searches were performed in EMBASE, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Web of Science for prospective cohort studies. The methodological quality analysis of the studies was performed through The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. The search totaled 25,292 articles, and after threefouran analysis of eligibility criteria, three studies with four articles were included in this review. Of this, three articles presented high methodological quality. In total, 3805 individuals from industrial sectors were analyzed. The physical, psychosocial, and individual risk factors associated with neck pain were high workload, repetitive movements, shoulder elevation above 90°, cervical flexion maintained for more than 75% of the time, weekly stress, weekly task change, high demands for work and low control and females. Women stay away from work longer than men. This systematic review identified physical, psychosocial, and individual factors associated with neck pain incidence in industrial workers.

While performing orthopedic surgeries, surgeons stand for long hours, carrying out repetitive and/or forceful movements, in sustained awkward postures, increasing the risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSD).

Nonetheless, the literature addressing the risk factors, prevalence and symptoms of lower limb WRMSD remains dispersed and lacks a comprehensive synthesis. However, considering the critical role of lower limbs in maintaining surgical stability and balance, WRMSD affecting lower limbs could significantly compromise precision and motor skills, potentially impacting surgery outcomes.

This systematic review addresses this gap by consolidating evidence on lower limb WRMSD incidence and symptoms among orthopedic surgeons, while identifying the underlying risk factors.

The selection of the papers for this systematic review follows the PRISMA methodology and includes articles from Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science published between 2013 and 2023. Among 320 articles initially identified, 14 met the inclusion criteria.

This systematic review shows knee WRMSD symptoms as the most prevalent, followed by foot/ankle and hip/thigh symptoms. The prevalence of foot/ankle WRMSD was the highest, followed by knee/lower leg and hip/thigh WRMSD. Additionally, the main risk factors reported as contributing to the development of these disorders included prolonged standing, static postures, higher body mass index, aging, smoking, and years of experience.

The findings of this systematic review highlight the substantial prevalence of lower limb WRMSD and symptoms among orthopedic surgeons and shed light on the associated risk factors. Understanding these factors is crucial for devising preventive measures and ergonomic interventions, ultimately enhancing the well-being of surgeons, and improving patient care.

Repetitive use of handheld nutrunners contributes to the development of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among assembly operators. Tool-using organizations control the physical exposures resulting from nutrunners through their own, company-specific methods and recommendations. The aim of this study was to explore an automotive organization's current practice when conducting ergonomics assessments of nutrunner use. Fourteen employees representing different professional roles within the automotive manufacturing organization were interviewed about their involvement in, and approaches to, ergonomics evaluations of nutrunners. Findings show that the objective criteria tightening torque and tool type are combined with the operators' subjective assessments of the load to identify MSD risks associated with nutrunner use. This way, the effects of factors such as working posture could be integrated into the assessment. Further, it was found that information and knowledge availability could influence the resulting exposures estimates, where for example information about how to appropriately select tool settings is not readily available. In addition, there are negotiating criteria such as quality considerations which need to be balanced with health and safety management, influencing the physical demands associated with power tools.

Relevance to industry

By providing insight into an automotive manufacturer's approach to managing and assessing handheld tightening tools, policy-makers can form recommended limits and methods for standardized assessments of reaction load exposure from nutrunners.

Interactive large-scale displays have significant potential for information visualization and collaborative interactions, particularly in educational and technological demonstrations. In these scenarios, usually a presenter communicates with spectators while allowing them to engage in various tasks. We propose a lightweight display interaction solution that enables multiple user interactions and facilitates natural interactions with objects in virtual environments, such as navigation and basic actions. A study involving 20 volunteers was conducted to assess the system performance and accessibility through object manipulation tasks such as selecting, moving, rotating, and zooming in a virtual environment. The results were compared to those obtained with a head-mounted display. The study found that (1) there was no significant difference in task execution time or precision and (2) the new method was more convenient, intuitive, and preferred by users.

The touchscreen has the potential to optimize the space usage and efficiency of the flight deck. Currently, touchscreens can combine the input and output functions of different systems. However, it does not yet serve as an inceptor to replace the sidestick or control column for aircraft manoeuvres. This study aims to examine the potential of a touchscreen as a flight inceptor compared with a traditional sidestick and gamepad. This research recruited 72 participants who interacted with three inceptors for both an instrument landing with disturbance and without disturbance using the Future System Simulator. The findings demonstrated that pilot performance, system usability and pilots’ situation awareness of touchscreen inceptors were significantly inferior to those of traditional sidesticks and gamepads. Compared to the sidestick and gamepad, the touchscreen provided a poorer situation awareness with the highest supply and demand. In addition, the performance of all inceptors was significantly influenced by disturbance. There is still a long way to go for certification of a touchscreen as an inceptor on the future flight deck. This research showed that even though the touchscreen inceptor scored the lowest on both SUS and SART, the majority of pilots agreed that the touchscreen inceptor provided a better attentional supply in challenging disturbance circumstances, providing proof of concept for its possible inclusion in flight deck design. There is a potential that the emerging touchscreen as an inceptor may develop further along with human-system integration flight deck design.

Railway dispatchers are prone to mental fatigue due to prolonged periods of intense concentration. As the main or even the only light source in the enclosed control centers, artificial lighting has non-visual effects on human alertness, cognition, and mood. To investigate whether external environmental cues could counteract performance decline induced by endogenous cardiac exhaustion, the current study modulated four correlated color temperature (CCT) levels and developed one visual task and six cognitive tasks representing basic and advanced cognitive functions, including sustained attention, response inhibition, working memory, risk decision-making, executive control, and emotion perception. A within-subjects design was employed to collect subjective and behavioral responses under both normal and fatigued mental antecedent states. Electroencephalogram (EEG) with alpha and theta bands as well as four fatigue-related algorithms including θ/β, α/β, (θ+α)/β, and (θ+α)/(α+β) were analyzed to explore the underlying neural mechanisms behind these responses. The results indicated a complex interactive pattern of CCT and mental antecedent state on alertness, cognition, and mood. Higher CCT had a supportive effect on subjective alertness and positive mood, independent of mental antecedent state. However, it exhibited a slight performance-impairing effect on sustained attention tasks. Conversely, higher CCT demonstrated a significant enhancement in advanced cognitive functions for fatigued individuals. EEG data revealed alpha oscillations increased, but theta activity and (θ + α)/β suppressed at 12,000 K, suggesting higher CCT partially alleviated the decline in alertness and cognition induced by mental fatigue. To develop an appropriate photobiological lighting scheme for fatigue intervention, larger and longer-term studies are needed in the future to measure a range of confounding factors and individual differences.