ABSTRACT
The use of checklists and similar tools to assess jobs with regard to risk of musculoskeletal symptoms is fairly common; jobs with some level of risk factors present are identified as problem jobs. However, knowledge of the reliability and validity of such tools is less common. This paper briefly describes a method of measuring and managing the reliability of checklist users’ scores. It also describes more completely a means of calculating the probability that a checklist correctly identifies a problem job
Keywords: checklist, reliability, validity, musculoskeletal disorder
At some time or another, nearly every ergonomics practitioner uses a checklist or a similar assessment tool, either to identify problem jobs, e.g., jobs where MSD
risk factors are present, or to characterize the risk factors once they have been identified - this many repetitive movements, that much flexion or extension. Further, these checklists are often scored in such a way as to indicate greater or lesser need for intervention to correct identified risk factors; jobs with scores above some criterion are given first priority, those with scores below the criterion are given lesser priority for remediation.
