Article Text
Abstract
Objectives To evaluate the agreement between job-title based estimates for upper extremity physical work exposures and exposure estimates from work observation and worker self-report.
Methods Self-reported exposure questionnaires were completed by 972 workers, and exposure estimates based on worksite observation were completed for a subset of 396 workers. Job-title based estimates were obtained from O*NET, an American database of job demands. Agreement between self-reported, observed and job-title based physical work exposures was assessed using Spearman correlations and intraclass correlation coefficients.
Results Job-title based exposure estimates from O*NET, self-reported and observer-rated exposures showed moderate to good levels of agreement for some upper extremity exposures, including lifting, forceful grip, use of vibrating tools and wrist bending.
Conclusions Job-title based physical work exposure variables may provide useful surrogate measures of upper extremity exposure data in the absence of other individual level data such as observed or self-reported exposure. Further validation of these data is necessary to determine the utility of the O*NET databases in future epidemiological studies.
- O*NET
- exposure assessment
- upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders
- reliability
- epidemiology
- ergonomics
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Footnotes
Funding This study was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (CDC/NIOSH grant # R01OH008017-01) and by the ASSE Foundation through the Liberty Mutual Research Fellowship Program at the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety in Hopkinton, MA.
Competing interests None.
Ethics approval This study was conducted with the approval of the Institutional Review Boards of Washington University, Saint Louis, Missouri, and the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.