Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-15-2015
Department
Mechanical & Industrial Engineering
Abstract
Workers in grocery stores are exposed to numerous musculoskeletal risks that can be reduced using assistive devices while performing stocking tasks. A regional grocery store has recently deployed a mobile cart without comprehension of its ergonomic impact on workers, which this article investigates using normalized electromyography data (%MVC). This article studies not only ergonomic impact based on %MVC values but also work performance represented by a muscle force metric (MFM). The results from this study showed highest muscle groups in %MVC and MFM were the erector spinae and triceps. Interestingly, muscle activations on erector spinae were reduced when mobile cart is used. %MVC and MFM distribution for value-added- and non-value-added subtasks were slightly different, with larger differences observed for non-value-added tasks. Video recordings revealed higher work performance when the mobile cart is used. In future research, the number of participants will be increased to further validate the results from this study.
Recommended Citation
Cho, Sohyung, "Ergonomic Analysis of Mobile Cart–Assisted Stocking Activities Using Electromyography" (2015). SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity. 25.
https://spark.siue.edu/siue_fac/25
Comments
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article:
Ohu, I. P. N., Cho, S., Kim, D. H. and Lee, G. H. (2016), Ergonomic Analysis of Mobile Cart–Assisted Stocking Activities Using Electromyography. Hum. Factors Man., 26: 40–51. doi: 10.1002/hfm.20612
which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hfm.20612. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.