Observing working postures in industry: Examples of OWAS application.
A practical method for identifying and evaluating poor working postures, ie the Ovako Working Posture Analysing System (OWAS), was presented in an earlier paper (Karhu et al, 1977). The application of the method is here described by means of two examples. One is a case study undertaken by members of an ergonomics training course, in which a marked improvement in working posture was achieved by OWAS analysis of critical activities. The second illustrates the effect of setting up a multidisciplinary group in order to develop an alternative method for the installation and maintenance of steel mill equipment. In both examples, application of the OWAS method led to improved posture in the situations studied, and to the likelihood of its wider industrial use.
Karhu
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Department Manager, Ovako Oy, Helsinki, Finland.
Härkönen
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Sorvali
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Vepsäläinen
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