Quantitative analysis of cumulative trauma risk factors and risk factor interactions

This study identifies the strongest occupational risk factors and risk fact or interactions in the development of indicators associated with cumulative trauma disorders (CTD), Suggestions for minimizing the occurrence of indic ators associated with onset of CTD are presented Five occupational risk fac tors and six risk factor interactions were evaluated to determine their con tribution to accepted indicators of the onset of CTD, including exertion di scomfort, difficulty, and fatigue, Taguchi's level-analysis procedure was u sed to design a 16-trial hammering experiment and to analyze the results. F rom the hypothesized occupational risk factors, repetition was found to hav e the strongest effect on the values of the physiological and subjective in dicators of the onset of CTD.