ESTIMATION OF METABOLIC-RATE USING QUALITATIVE JOB DESCRIPTORS

This project developed two methods to estimate metabolic rate that can be used easily and provide acceptable precision. The methods were dev eloped from the measurement of oxygen consumption on 80 typical jobs i n automotive manufacturing The Ready-Reference Method uses three easil y identified, dichotomous characteristics to classify the job into one of four levels of metabolic rate. The characteristics are based on mo tion of the hands, weights or forces, and walking; standard error of e stimate was 68 kcal/hour. The Component Method has four terms that acc ount for hand motion, walking/carrying, lifting, mld pushing/pulling. Hand motions and lifting factors are characterized by three or four ca tegories with a reference value to make the determination easier by us ing more qualitative data. Walking/carrying and pushing/pulling data a re noted as typical distances traveled in one minute. The standard err or of estimate for this method was 62 kcal/hour. In addition to a smal ler standard error of estimate the further advantage of the Component Method over the Ready-Reference Method is an ability to point toward t he largest contributors to metabolic rate.