Identifying Risk Factors in An Office Work Environment Using the Rapid Office Strain Assessment: A Case Study

Abstract

The amount of computer work has dramatically increased in the past twenty years. This increasing trend has not come without a cost to the wellbeing of workers. Repetitive motion of the fingers, hands and wrists, sustained awkward postures of the wrist and forearm, and contact pressures in the wrist have been proposed as possible mechanisms of injury related to the use of the keyboard and mouse. Several tools have been proposed to identify the risk factors associated with this condition, e.g., the rapid upper limb assessment (RULA), the office ergonomic assessment tool (OEA), the Quick Exposure Checklist, and the Assessment of Repetitive Tasks. However, neither of these tools feature risk factors that are specific to office work. This study then employs the Rapid Office Strain Assessment (ROSA) that can quickly quantify risks associated with each component of a typical office workstation. ROSA is proven to be an effective and reliable tool for identifying computer use risk factors related to discomfort. A case study was conducted in a strategic planning and business development division of PT XYZ by applying ROSA to identify the associated risk factors. The result shows that 72% of the eleven workers acting as respondents have risky work posture. Several recommendations are also provided to reduce the potential risk factors in an office work environment.