XXXI International Seminar of Ergonomics ISBN: 978-1-60595-652-7 The MSD Risk Assessment Among Forklift Operators as a Source of Data for Ergonomic Intervention —Comparison of Two Tools KATARZYNA JACH 1 Keywords: REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment), QEC (Quick Exposure Check), musculoskeletal disorders ABSTRACT Two different methods: REBA (Rapid Entire Body Assessment) and the revised Quick Exposure Check (QEC) were applied for the assessment of three jobs involving forklift truck driving. The application of MSD risk assessment tools was followed by ergonomic checklists analysis. The results were used for ergonomic intervention pro- gram. Although both methods shown their usefulness in the MSD risk assessment, QEC results were more specific, gave more detailed information about possible ways of ergonomic intervention and better showed the decrease of MSD risk as an effect of changes applied. INTRODUCTION Forklift truck operators are subjects of many ergonomic analysis due to high physical and psychological requirements of their work [1], [2], [3], [4]. This job is related with reasonably high risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), particularly those involving spine. The forklift truck operators need to perform many different head movements due to their job task requirement, including rotation over 45 degrees when reversing the truck and holding the head at lateral flexed position when loading the fork at high levels. For safety reasons, they repeat rotation during forklift or load reversing. Moreover, they lean to the side in consideration of better view during loading and unloading the vehicle. Therefore, even if they operate in a good quality vehicles with different adjustments possibilities, they are exposed to a risk of awkward postures. Thus, as a result, most of forklift operators experience neck pain. According to Flodin at al. [1], 49% of investigated forklift operators reported they experienced neck pain, in comparison to 30% of office workers. Moreover, the authors reported an association between neck extension and neck and shoulder symptoms among forklift operators. According to Van den Heuvel et al. [5], neck rotation over 45 degrees is a significant risk factor for neck pain as well. Such position is often observed among forklift opera- tors. Moreover, Bovenzi claimed in a three-year follow-up study on the sample of 537 male professional drivers the association of neck and shoulder pain occurrence (NSP) 1 Faculty of Computer Science and Management, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland 141