Development and evaluation of a microprocessor-based ergonomic dosimeter for evaluating carpentry tasks

This portable and self-contained lightweight microprocessor based Ergonomic Dosimeter is designed to collect continuously postural angles of the torso and the upper arm in the sagittal plane and the number of kneeling activit ies. Up to 4 h of task performance data can be stored in a non-volatile mem ory of the dosimeter, which can then be downloaded to a lap-top computer. T he portable dosimeter was tested for test-retest reliability, compared with posture data obtained with a computer-based video analysis system and eval uated at a carpenter's apprentices school and at a construction site. The d osimeter was shown to be suitable for collecting posture and kneeling data for a prolonged period at construction sites. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd . All rights reserved.