AGREEMENT OF RISK ASSESSMENT RESULTS OF AWKWARD POSTURE ON UPPER LIMB BETWEEN STRAIN INDEX AND RAPID UPPER LIMP ASSESSMENT AMONG SEWING WORKERS

Abstract

          The objectives of this study were to study the ergonomic risk level of awkward posture using strain index and rapid upper limb assessment and to assess an agreement of ergonomic risk level between strain index assessment and rapid upper limb assessment among 30 sewing workers in Chanthima sub-district, Lan Krabue district, Kamphaeng Phet province. Collected data were divided into 2 parts: 1) The general data collection was performed using questionnaire, 2) the ergonomic risk level of awkward posture was assessed by strain index assessment and rapid upper limb assessment. The agreement between strain index assessment and rapid upper limb assessment was analyzed using weight kappa. All results determined the significance at the level 0.05. The results of risk level by using strain index assessment found that 66.7 percent of risk level of the left hand was harmful and 33.3 percent of risk level of the right hand was uncertain. While, the result of risk level by using rapid upper limb assessment found that 63.3 percent of risk level was investigate and implement change. Furthermore, the agreement of risk level of awkward posture between strain index assessment of left hand and rapid upper limb assessment was the fair level (weight kappa = 0.25). Besides, the agreement of risk level between strain index assessment of right hand and rapid upper limb assessment was the low level (weight kappa = 0.10). These results showed that although the study results of agreement between two ergonomic assessment tools was significant but it was low level. Thus, there is no possibility of applying them interchangeably for postural risk assessment.