An adaptive control model for assessment of work-related musculoskeletal hazards and risks

There is growing evidence that the domain of work demands (e.g. physical demands, mental demands) as characterized through work elements (e.g. weight of load, frequency, horizontal distance, height of lift, work duration, and twisting angle for lifting demands; complexity, work duration and number of occurrences for mental demands) can interact to precipitate hazardous conditions which potentially result in musculoskeletal injuries and illnesses. Research efforts to date have focused largely upon singular aspects of the domain of work demands with reference to human effort and injury/illness risk assessment. Thus, the complex interactive effects of the entire set of work demands on risk outcome measures have been neglected because of the difficulty such endeavours pose. The main objective of the present work is to develop a foundation for a comprehensive work system model enabling occupational health and safety professionals to understand and evaluate how the complete spectrum of work demands (i.e. physical and mental demands, physical/social/organizational/individual growth environment conditions) interact to influence human effort, and subsequently affect hazards and, thus, perceived and actual risk. The intention is to provide a systematic and standardized approach to complex work system hazard identification and risk assessment for prevention of musculoskeletal disorders.