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Falls are a major contributor to construction-related fatalities. Many construction fall fatalities occur during roofing, and may be prevented by proper use of fall protection. A prevalent option for fall protection is a personal fall arrest system (PFAS). However, full adaption of PFAS is hindered by usability issues, particularly in the harness component. Current research aims to develop design requirements for more usable fall arrest harness. A study was conducted to consider the inter-relations of objective measures of fit and strap pressure, along with subjective usability measures including discomfort ratings and post-task questionnaire responses. 18 local roofers were recruited to test three different harnesses, while performing both quiet calibration-oriented trials and simulated roofing tasks. Significant correlations between discomfort ratings and pressure values were found only in quiet trials. Questionnaire responses were validated by inter-correlations and by significant correlations with discomfort ratings. Multiple comparisons of objective fit values and questionnaire responses revealed deficits in the low-end harness, while suggesting few differences between the mid- and high-range harnesses. Results from analysis of both objective and subjective measures were considered alongside free-response prompts to develop a set of four requirements for consideration in future harness design, including a lowered harness weight, an intermediate level of padding, inclusion of rolling style vertical strap quick-adjusters, a belt-style thigh strap adjustment mechanism, and the adoption of a three-sized sizing scheme. / Master of Science

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This dissertation explores patient trust in their physician and its impact on telemedicine. Telemedicine is using any technology to remotely communicate with a healthcare professional. The first study explores patient trust in their physician by validating the Wake Forest Trust in Physician scale for use in telemedicine research. The original (TIP) scale consists of 10 items and measures four of the five dimensions of trust: Fidelity, Competence, Honesty, and Global Trust. The final validated scale for telemedicine use (T-TIP) consisted of 12 items measuring three subscales: trustworthiness, interpersonal skills, and confidentiality. Study two explores the relationship between patient trust and delivery mode (telemedicine versus traditional interactions). The results from Study 2 indicate that patients trust their physician more in the telemedicine interaction than in the traditional interaction. There was also an effect of location, ethnicity, and frequency of doctor visits on patient trust. Study three delves further into the relationship between patient trust and telemedicine by examining the impact of communication mode on patient trust. Additionally, study three explores the relationship between usability and trust. There was no difference in patient trust scores between text and verbal communication. However, study three did find that as perceived usability of the interface increases, patient trust in their physician also increases. Also, this study found that the text interface had a higher fixation rate and shorter fixation duration than the video interface, indicating that the text interface had less cognitive load. These studies not only provide a tool for measuring patient trust in their telemedicine physician but also demonstrate that there is an impact of patient trust on telemedicine. The fact that patient trust in their physician is higher in telemedicine means that telemedicine could be used to increase patient participation in their own healthcare. Additionally, the relationship between usability and patient trust could be used to increase telemedicine use.

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<p>The purpose of this study was to investigate leaning behaviours when completing tasks with constrained reaches. A logistic regression was developed, with the input of individual subject anthropometry and specific task characteristics, and the resulting model was able to provide a very accurate prediction of when an individual would lean. The inputs to this model give insight into what factors are important in the decision making process when a worker chooses whether lean. The task hand locations with the longest reaches resulted in the most frequent choice to lean. Leaning appears to be particularly common, and important, with long reaching and pulling tasks that can reduce task hand shoulder and trunk loads and improve balance, while allowing the worker to get closer to the task. Leaning hand forces were highest during pulling tasks. These findings are very important to document, as current ergonomic tools neglect to consider that different task characteristics may change how, and when, a worker leans. Even when only the direction of the task hand force was changed, leaning hand forces differed significantly. In this study, leaning hand height was slightly higher for the shoulder height, when compared to the umbilical height, task hand locations. The average height of the leaning hand did not vary considerably and ranged between 106.6cm to 116.3cm, depending on the condition. The leaning hand force magnitude changed as task hand location, force direction and force level changed. Leaning hand forces increased with increasing task hand load. Task hand forces in the push direction were higher compared to push and down exertions, regardless of task hand location or task hand load. The findings from this study are of particular use to industry as ergonomists now have representative forces and heights, to help guide leaning estimates during proactive risk assessments.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

Introduction: Applied occupational health research is complex and requires transparent communication between stakeholders to facilitate development and implementation of injury management strategies. Firefighting as a physically demanding, male-dominant occupation provides a unique context to develop and implement injury management strategies. Thesis Objectives: To investigate how individuals perform occupational tasks within a physically demanding occupational context considering the interrelationship between personal, task and environmental factors. A secondary objective was to evaluate the research partnership as integrated knowledge translation using the Knowledge-to-Action (KTA) Framework. Methods. A qualitative study was used to identify barriers and facilitators experienced by female firefighters. Dartfish movement analysis software was adapted to analyze kinematics associated with firefighter tasks. Relative and absolute reliability was used to establish measurement properties of Dartfish methods. Regression models identified the relative importance of individual factors on firefighter task performance. A case study of the research partnership using knowledge translation (KT) theory identified critical phases in developing occupational health research partnerships. Results. The qualitative study identified sex/gender and task/environment effects on firefighter task performance and injury risk. Tracking positional co-ordinate data using Dartfish demonstrated excellent relative reliability (ICC2,1 = 0.84-0.99) and lowest absolute reliability (SEM = 0.01m-0.11m). Strength was the strongest independent predictor of firefighter task performance time where increasing strength was associated with faster time. The case study identified components of the KTA Action Cycle that supported and described collaborative occupational health research. Conclusions. Although female firefighters share commonalities with their male counterparts, unique personal attributes and social experiences affect how they experience firefighting. Dartfish provides a reliable tool to measure kinematics in an applied context. Although refinements are required, recommendations for data collection and extraction using Dartfish in occupational contexts are provided. Occupational health research imbedded in KTA cycle confirms the importance of partnership with stakeholders to ensure the feasibility and relevance of the research. / Thesis / Candidate in Philosophy

Participatory ergonomics (PE) is a macroergonomics approach in which the end-users actively participate in developing and implementing the technology. PE can be an effective method for involving front-line workers in analyzing and redesigning their own jobs. PE can be used at the macro-level, the micro-level, or somewhere in between. At the macro-level, the focus of the PE program is across an entire organization or work system. At the micro-level, the focus of a PE approach is on a particular task, workstation, or product. A major benefit for using PE is that workers are more likely to accept changes to their job if they participate in the redesign. Furthermore, workers' motivation, job satisfaction, and knowledge are enhanced through the participatory process. There are many case studies that describe successful PE approaches. These studies, however, lack a control group or comparison group and so changes in the workplace (e.g., a reduction of musculoskeletal injury) cannot be attributed directly to the interventions resulting from the PE program with certainty. Quantifying the effects of PE is difficult because of problems in trying to isolate variables. Confounding variables are often difficult to contain. This study quantified some of the effects of PE by utilizing a controlled experimental design in the laboratory in which participants analyzed and redesigned a manual material handling job. The effects of this PE approach were quantified by measuring a reduction of risk factors associated with the job and by measuring a lift index of the lifting task that indicates a risk for injury. Many authors state or infer that some degree of ergonomics training should be given to the participants in a PE approach. However, the effects of providing ergonomics training to participants in these types of participatory approaches are unclear. This research evaluates the effects of providing the participants with basic ergonomics instruction relevant to the job being evaluated and redesigned. Also, this research suggests if the NIOSH lifting equation can be an effective tool in a participatory ergonomics approach in the redesign of a manual material handling job that involves lifting tasks. A 2-factor, between-subjects design was used. Participants consisted of 32 volunteers (16 males and 16 females). Only individuals that have had no prior ergonomics knowledge were considered for the subject pool. Participants performed a simulated manual material handling job in the laboratory. After performing the job, some subjects were given ergonomics training and/or instructed on how to use the NIOSH lifting equation for manual lifting tasks. The participants were then asked to redesign the original job. The participants' redesigns were compared to the redesigns of the control subjects (who received no ergonomics instruction and did not use the NIOSH lifting equation). The subjects who received the ergonomics instruction identified significantly more risk factors in the original job and eliminated significantly more risk factors in the redesign than the control subjects. The subjects who learned and used the NIOSH lifting equation also identified significantly more risk factors in the original job but did not eliminate significantly more risk factors in the redesign. The subjects who received the ergonomics instruction and who used the NIOSH lifting equation were not shown to have an advantage over the subjects who received the ergonomics instruction alone. The group that received the ergonomics training performed optimally with respect to the other experimental groups. Implications for participatory ergonomics approaches are discussed. / Master of Science

Workers are challenged by the increasingly complex multitasking environments they experience. To interact effectively with these environments, they must avoid overload. When workers get overloaded (when their mental demands exceed the resource capacity) quality drops, performance degrades, and safety suffers. What is largely unknown, however, is whether these results translate to postural tasks. Postural stability exhibits an entirely different set of challenges: injury, the danger of slips and falls, and risks associated with aging workers or those who have mental or physical challenges. An assembly line worker, for example, must assume different postures, interact with the product in some way, and react to visual and auditory alarms. Mistakes could be dangerous. It is clearly important, then, to understand the interactive effects of mental and postural workload. The goal of this research was to quantify the effects of mental and postural demands on overall workload. To accomplish this, we implemented three studies that were designed to capture the synergistic effects of different task types on overall workload and compare different types of workload measures against each other to help further design research in the area. We designed a dual-task mental/postural protocol to test the differential effects of a series of cognitive demands found in dual-task postural studied. The results of the first study depict a clear picture: the addition of an auditory task to unstable seating decreases postural sway. Based solely on this result, it might be concluded that workload did not increase. Using the same protocol while measuring mental workload however, we found that workload did in fact increase both subjectively and objectively, even when similar postural benefit was found. Even as performance seemed to improve, the participant moved nearer to possible overload and performance decrement (a condition we did not induce in this research). Based on the differences found between the different measures, we believe the importance of measuring overall workload as well as individual task performance in cognitive/postural dual-task research is very high. / Ph. D.