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Correcting Working Postures in Industry: A Practical Method For Analysis
Correcting Working Postures in Industry: A Practical Method For Analysis
Correcting Working Postures in Industry: A Practical Method For Analysis
4, 199-201
A practical method for identifying and evaluating poor working postures, ie, the Ovako
Working Posture Analysing System (OWAS), is presented. The method consists of two
parts. The first is an observational technique for evaluating working postures. It can be
used by work-study engineers in their daily routine and it gives reliable results after a
short training period. The second part of the method is a set of criteria for the redesign
of working methods and places. The criteria are based on evaluations made by
experienced workers and ergonomics experts. They take into consideration factors such
as health and safety, but the main emphasis is placed on the discomfort caused by the
working postures. The method has been extensively used in the steel company which
participated in its development. Complete production lines have already been redesigned
on the basis of information gathered from OWAS, the result being more comfortable
workplaces as well as a positive effect on production quality.
Fig. 1 List of items classified by OWAS (the Ovako Workers A and B 69 23-88
Working Posture Analysing System). A code number
Work-study
is given for each item. Each posture can be described 93 74-99
engineers 1 and 2
with a three-digit code. The example in the right
side of the figure, thus, can be represented by the Morning/afternoon 86 70-100
code 215.