Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are prevalent in the United States and are a major cause of disability and lost productivity. Occupational health and safety (OHS) personnel employed in industries that commonly report a high incidence of MSDs, such as manufacturing, are often responsible for evaluating and modifying workspaces to prevent these conditions. Such efforts are often limited, however, by the routine use of imprecise and biased self-report and/or observational-based exposure assessment methods. Ambulatory inertial sensors (AISs) are innovative, objective, and valid direct measurement technologies that have recently emerged as an alternative to self-report or observational-based methods for assessing exposure to physical risk factors in occupational settings. Despite their small size, decreasing costs, and ubiquitous use among the general public, the vast majority of OHS personnel employed in manufacturing do not currently deploy AISs for workplace health and safety surveillance. This project will address three methodological research gaps that currently prevent the adoption of AISs among OHS personnel. First, AISs will be deployed among a stratified sample of 36 manufacturing workers performing cyclic and noncyclic work tasks (over 15 complete working days for each participant) to capture time-series estimates of workplace exposure to selected physical risk factors. This data will be used to estimate the number of work days that must be sampled to obtain stable exposure estimates and guide the selection of future sampling strategies. Second, a workplace OHS ?dashboard? will be developed, evaluated, and implemented that summarizes direct measurements obtained from the AISs to better inform operational decision making. Finally, the effects of using the AIS driven dashboard on exposure to physical risk factors and safety behaviors will be assessed in the context of stakeholder perception of safety climate. This proposal addresses several strategic goals identified in the Exposure Assessment and MSD Health and Safety Cross-Sector Programs as well as the Manufacturing Industry Sector of the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA). The primary expected outcome is an increased understanding of how AISs may be applied to improve workplace safety surveillance and reduce workplace injuries and illnesses. Outputs will include journal and conference publications as well as an innovative Research to Practice (R2P) tool designed to reduce the incidence and severity of MSDs and promote healthy workplace behaviors. An early career scientist whose career goal is to become a prominent independent investigator who specializes in the design, evaluation, and application of proactive workplace interventions that consider organizational characteristics to prevent MSDs will gain invaluable experience and training.
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are widespread in the United States and are associated with substantial societal and financial costs. The proposed work aims to apply ambulatory inertial sensors in a manufacturing setting to drive an innovative occupational health and safety ?dashboard? designed to help monitor workplace exposures to physical risk factors and promote healthy workplace behaviors. An early career scientist will develop additional knowledge, skills, and abilities as a direct result of the award that will better prepare him to conduct independent, high impact research that benefits the public's health.
