Ditchen Dirk M, Ellegast Rolf P, Gawliczek Tom, Hartmann Bernd, Rieger Monika A
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the German Social Accident Insurance, Alte Heerstr. 111, 53757, Sankt Augustin, Germany,
Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 2015 Feb;88(2):153-65. doi: 10.1007/s00420-014-0946-5. Epub 2014 May 24.
As knee-straining postures such as kneeling and squatting are known to be risk factors for knee disorders, there is a need for effective exposure assessment at the workplace. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a method to capture knee-straining postures for entire work shifts by combining measurement techniques with the information obtained from diaries, and thus avoiding measuring entire work shifts. This approach was applied to various occupational tasks to obtain an overview of typical exposure values in current specific occupations.
The analyses were carried out in the field using an ambulatory measuring system (CUELA) to assess posture combined with one-day self-reported occupational diaries describing the durations of various work tasks. In total, 242 work shifts were measured, representing 81 typical tasks from 16 professions. Knee-straining postures were analysed as daily time intervals for five different postures. The accuracy of the method was examined by comparing the results to measurements of entire work shifts.
Unsupported kneeling was the most widely used knee posture in our sample (median 11.4 % per work shift), followed by supported kneeling (3.0 %), sitting on heels (1.1 %), squatting (0.7 %), and crawling (0.0 %). The daily time spent in knee-straining postures varied considerably, both between the individual occupations, within an occupation (e.g. parquet layers: 0.0-88.9 %), and to some extent even within a single task (e.g. preparation work of floor layers (22.0 ± 23.0 %). The applied measuring method for obtaining daily exposure to the knee has been proven valid and efficient randomly compared with whole-shift measurements (p = 0.27).
The daily degree of postural exposure to the knee showed a huge variation within the analysed job categories and seemed to be dependent on the particular tasks performed. The results of this study may help to develop an exposure matrix with respect to occupational knee-straining postures. The tested combination of task-based measurement and diary information may be a promising option for providing a cost-effective assessment tool.
由于诸如跪姿和蹲姿等会给膝盖造成压力的姿势被认为是导致膝盖疾病的风险因素，因此需要在工作场所进行有效的暴露评估。所以，本研究的目的是开发一种方法，通过将测量技术与从日记中获取的信息相结合，来捕捉整个工作班次中给膝盖造成压力的姿势，从而避免对整个工作班次进行测量。该方法被应用于各种职业任务，以了解当前特定职业中典型暴露值的概况。
在现场使用动态测量系统（CUELA）评估姿势，并结合一份描述各种工作任务持续时间的一日自我报告职业日记进行分析。总共测量了242个工作班次，代表了16个职业的81项典型任务。对五种不同姿势的给膝盖造成压力的姿势按每日时间间隔进行分析。通过将结果与整个工作班次的测量结果进行比较，检验了该方法的准确性。
在我们的样本中，无支撑跪姿是使用最广泛的膝盖姿势（每个工作班次中位数为11.4%），其次是有支撑跪姿（3.0%）、蹲坐（1.1%）、蹲姿（0.7%）和爬行（0.0%）。在给膝盖造成压力的姿势上花费的每日时间差异很大，在不同职业之间、同一职业内部（例如镶木地板工：0.0 - 88.9%），甚至在单个任务内部（例如地板铺设工的准备工作（22.0 ± 23.0%））都存在差异。与全班次测量随机比较，所应用的获取膝盖每日暴露量的测量方法已被证明是有效且高效的（p = 0.27）。
在所分析的工作类别中，膝盖姿势暴露的每日程度差异巨大，似乎取决于所执行的特定任务。本研究结果可能有助于制定关于职业性给膝盖造成压力姿势的暴露矩阵。基于任务的测量和日记信息的测试组合可能是提供一种经济有效的评估工具的有前景的选择。
