Assessment of muscle fatigue associated with prolonged standing in the workplace

• 发表在: Safety and Health at Work
• 主要作者: 2-s2.0-84877641414
• 格式: 文件
• 语言: English
• 出版: Elsevier Science B.V. 2012
• 在线阅读: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84877641414&doi=10.5491%2fSHAW.2012.3.1.31&partnerID=40&md5=09f67bd47e3487b19618e48e8ca415ef

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to determine the psychological fatigue and analyze muscle activity of production workers who are performing processes jobs while standing for prolonged time periods. Methods: The psychological fatigue experienced by the workers was obtained through questionnaire surveys. Meanwhile, muscle activity has been analyzed using surface electromyography (sEMG) measurement. Lower extremities muscles include: erector spinae, tibialis anterior, and gastrocnemius were concurrently measured for more than five hours of standing. Twenty male production workers in a metal stamping company participated as subjects in this study. The subjects were required to undergo questionnaire surveys and sEMG measurement. Results: Results of the questionnaire surveys found that all subjects experienced psychological fatigue due to prolonged standing jobs. Similarly, muscle fatigue has been identified through sEMG measurement. Based on the non-parametric statistical test using the Spearman's rank order correlation, the left erector spinae obtained a moderate positive correlation and statistically significant (r s = 0.552, p < 0.05) between the results of questionnaire surveys and sEMG measurement. Conclusion: Based on this study, the authors concluded that prolonged standing was contributed to psychological fatigue and to muscle fatigue among the production workers. Copyright © 2012 by Safety and Health at Work (SH@W).