O Karhu | PubMed Health

PubMed1981

Observing working postures in industry: Examples of OWAS application.

A practical method for identifying and evaluating poor working postures, ie the Ovako Working Posture Analysing System (OWAS), was presented in an earlier paper (Karhu et al, 1977). The application of the method is here described by means of two examples. One is a case study undertaken by members of an ergonomics training course, in which a marked improvement in working posture was achieved by OWAS analysis of critical activities. The second illustrates the effect of setting up a multidisciplinary group in order to develop an alternative method for the installation and maintenance of steel mill equipment. In both examples, application of the OWAS method led to improved posture in the situations studied, and to the likelihood of its wider industrial use.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1977

Correcting working postures in industry: A practical method for analysis.

A practical method for identifying and evaluating poor working postures, ie, the Ovako Working Posture Analysing System (OWAS), is presented. The method consists of two parts. The first is an observational technique for evaluating working postures. It can be used by work-study engineers in their daily routine and it gives reliable results after a short training period. The second part of the method is a set of criteria for the redesign of working methods and places. The criteria are based on evaluations made by experienced workers and ergonomics experts. They take into consideration factors such as health and safety, but the main emphasis is placed on the discomfort caused by the working postures. The method has been extensively used in the steel company which participated in its development. Complete production lines have already been redesigned on the basis of information gathered from OWAS, the result being more comfortable workplaces as well as a positive effect on production quality.

Journal Article↗