Crane cabins’ interior space multivariate anthropometric modeling

Anthropometric accommodation percentage comparison for univariate and multivariate representative Mexican hand models

BACKGROUND: Adopting awkward postures at work has a great impact on productivity and work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Considering anthropometric data in the design of products and workplaces can diminish this impact. The traditional univariate-percentile-approach is one of the most implemented in the anthropometric analysis, even though it has proved limitations in comparison with multivariate-approaches. OBJECTIVE: To develop univariate and multivariate hand models considering four anthropometric dimensions, and to theoretically compare the univariate and multivariate accommodation percentages. METHODS: Univariate percentile models corresponding to the database of real subject nearest-neighbors to the 5th and 95th percentiles were obtained for the male and female population. Two multivariate approaches were implemented on the central 90% of both populations: 2D principal component analysis and archetypal analysis. The accommodation percentage for each family of models was obtained based on the population that simultaneously fit all the anthropometric dimensions. The goodness-of-fit and McNemar’s tests were performed to statistically analyze the accommodation percentages. RESULTS: Eight human hand models were obtained via Principal Component Analysis while two, three, four, and eight Archetypal Analysis models (male-population) and two, three, six, and eight Archetypal Analysis models (female-population) were selected after a root-sum-of-squares analysis for k = 1, ...  ,10 archetypes. CONCLUSION: The results showed that the Principal Component Analysis models obtained a higher accommodation level, followed by the Archetypal Analysis and percentile models (male population). In the case of the female population, models obtained by multivariate-Archetypal Analysis (k = 8) obtained a higher accommodation percentage.

Relicensing Practices of Taxi Drivers and Crane Operators Aged 70 Years and above in Singapore

Singapore is a rapidly ageing society, underpinned by national policies to promote successful and active ageing. Whilst older worker participation in the workforce is encouraged, policymakers are challenged to ensure that work competency is not compromised with any normal age- and/or health-related changes. This paper will briefly outline how policymakers responded to the needs of two subgroups of older workers aged 70 years and above (taxi drivers; crane operators) who desire to continue working in the last two decades. Whilst a mandatory retirement age policy exists for older taxi drivers in Singapore, there is none for older crane operators. Despite this, stricter relicensing protocols were introduced for both types of workers, with active collaboration involving additional occupational therapy services for functional work competency assessments to complement the routine medical fitness screening. Comparisons will be made of these two relicensing frameworks, including the mention of any relevant studies to align with the call of evidence-based practices. In mid-2020, the relicensing policy for older taxi drivers was revised based on findings of a retrospective national database study. Currently, a 4-year national database study on older crane operators aged 70 years and above is being undertaken with preliminary findings to be reported.

Comparison of univariate and multivariate anthropometric accommodation of the northwest Mexico population

ABSTRCTErgonomic workstation design is crucial to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Many researchers have proposed multivariate analysis for human accommodation. However, no multivariate anthropometric analysis exists for the Mexican population. This study compares common multivariate human accommodation approaches (e.g. principal component and archetypal analyses) and clustering techniques (e.g. k-means and Ward's algorithm) with the classical percentile-based univariate accommodation approach, using the Chi-squared goodness-of-fit test and the McNemar's test. The theoretical accommodation percentage obtained by multivariate approaches was higher than those obtained by the percentile univariate approach considering the central 98% data. k-means and archetypal analysis obtained similar and the highest accommodation values, followed by Ward's algorithm and principal component analysis. The study findings can be deployed to assess the design of workstations in Mexico, such as electronic components assembly and crew designs, and the effects of different anthropometric measurements in human accommodation. Practitioner summary: Products and workplaces design are commonly based on the classical univariate approach, using the extreme percentiles. In this study, multivariate approaches were tested on dimensions for sitting workstations, and results showed a bigger accommodation level in comparison to the univariate 1%-99% approaches. Abbreviations: RHM: representative human model; DHM: digital human model; PCA: principal component analysis; AA: archetypal analysis (AA); PCs: principal components; FA: factor analysis; RSS: residual sum of squares; SSE: sum of squared estimated errors; WA: Ward's algorithm; DBI: Davies-Bouldin index; CHI: Calinski-Harabaz index; SI: silhouette index; SH: sitting height; EHS: eye height, sitting; AHS: acromial height, sitting; PH: popliteal height; KHS: knee height, sitting; BPL: buttock-popliteal length; BKL: buttock-knee length; FGR: functional grip reach; AD: anthropometric dimension; E: expected; A: achieved.

Human Factors Modelling Approach: Application to a Safety Device Supporting Crane Operations in Major Hazard Industries

The European Directive on Safety and Health at Work and the following normatives have the scope to provide high levels of health and safety at work, based on some general principles managing activities and including the risk assessment to continuously improve processes and workplaces. However, the working area changes and brings new risks and challenges for workers. Several of them are associated with new technologies, which determine complex human–machine interactions, leading to an increased mental and emotional strain. To reduce these emerging risks, their understanding and assessment are important. Although great efforts have already been made, there is still a lack of conceptual frameworks for analytically assessing human–machine interaction. This paper proposes a systematic approach that, beyond including the classification in domains to explain the complexity of the human–machine interaction, accounts for the information processing of the human brain. Its validation is shown in a major accident hazard industry where a smart safety device supporting crane related operations is used. The investigation is based on the construction of a questionnaire for the collection of answers about the feeling of crane operators when using the device and the evaluation of the Cronbach’s alpha to measure of the reliability of the assessment.

Secular changes in the anthropometrics of Chilean workers and its implication in design

BACKGROUND

Anthropometrics is very important when ensuring a physical match between end users and product or workstations.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this study are twofold, to provide anthropometric data for the design of products and to examine the secular changes in the adult Chilean workers in a period of more than 20 years.

METHODS

Nineteen anthropometric measurements from two samples from 1995 and 2016 were compared using independent t-test (95% confidence interval), where additionally absolute and relative differences were calculated.

RESULTS

The secular trend observed for Stature is characterized by an increase average of 20mm and 10.5mm per decade for females and males, respectively. There is a positive secular trend for both genders, which is observed for most of the selected body measurements. The most pronounced increases were onWeight, Shoulder breadth, Body mass index, Popliteal height; Buttock-popliteal length and Hip width.

CONCLUSIONS

Segmental dimensions that experienced a positive secular trend, together with Weight and Stature, are highly correlated with seating design, addressing the need to review products targeting Chilean adult workers, such as public transport seats, office furniture or industrial workplaces.

What type of worker are you? Work-related Inventory (WI-10): A comprehensive instrument for the measurement of workaholism

BACKGROUND

In literature, there are many instruments for evaluating workaholism; however, they do not have convergent validity, because of the lack of a shared definition of workaholism.

OBJECTIVE

We propose a new instrument for evaluating workaholism and work engagement, namely the Work-related Inventory (WI-10), which is based on Loscalzo and Giannini's (2017) comprehensive definition of workaholism.

METHODS

We developed a pool of 36 items, covering: 1) addiction symptoms; 2) obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and 3) work engagement. Then, we conducted Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor analyses on a sample of 503 Italian workers (165 males, 337 females, one missing; Mean age = 38.26±10.84) aiming to reduce the number of items.

RESULTS

The results showed a 10-items (2 filler) and 2-factor solution: 1) Workaholism and 2) Work Engagement; moreover, the WI-10 has good internal reliability, convergent and divergent validity.

CONCLUSIONS

We found good psychometric properties for the WI-10. We also proposed the cut-off scores for the screening of the four kinds of workers proposed by Loscalzo and Giannini (2017): disengaged workaholics, engaged workaholics, engaged workers, and detached workers. The WI-10 will be useful for both research and preventive and clinical purposes.