A Checklist for Evaluating Exposure to Repetitive Movements of the Upper Limbs Based on the OCRA Index

The OCRA index method is presented elsewhere in this book. In that presentation, it was stated that the OCRA method was a concrete application of a Consensus Document produced by the Technical Group for Musculoskeletal Disorders of the International Ergonomics Association (IEA) (Colombini et al. 2001) and that the OCRA index can be, within definite limits, predictive of the risk of upper limbs (UL) Work-related MusculoSkeletal Disorders (WMSDs) in exposed populations (Occhipinti and Colombini 2004). However, the OCRA index method is rather complex to apply and time consuming. This paper is devoted to the presentation of a simpler tool (Checklist), based on the same general framework, criteria, and definition of the Consensus Document and of the OCRA index method. It is useful for quickly identifying the presence of the main risk factors to the upper limbs and for classifying the consequent exposure. The OCRA checklist, based on the OCRA index method, is generally recommended for the initial screening of several workstations in a company featuring repetitive tasks, whilst the complete OCRA index is useful for the (re)design or in-depth analysis of workstations and tasks (Colombini et al. 2002). The OCRA checklist method also considers and assesses four main collective risk factors based on their respective duration (Colombini et al. 2001):