Reducing Non-fatal Injury In The Workplace: A Summary Of The Effects Of Occupational Exoskeletons And Physical Exposure Assessment

Workers who perform manual material handling (MMH) tasks, such as lifting, carrying, and pushing, are at risk of developing work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). Several ergonomic interventions and occupational exposure assessment methods have been developed and proposed to prevent and quantify risk factors among workers when performing MMH tasks. Yet, implementing these methods and interventions in situ can be challenging due to differences in outcome measures, diagnostic criteria, and difficulty in interpreting assessment results. Further, the high incidence of WMSD among workers suggests a critical need to improve ergonomic interventions and exposure assessments to protect workers and save costs. During this talk, he will share some of his research findings on his efforts to reduce and prevent WMSD among workers. He will focus on two main areas of his research. First, he will discuss his work on evaluating ergonomic interventions to ensure they are safe and effective for use in the workplace. Second, he will present his work on using a markerless motion capture system to improve occupational exposure assessment in the workplace. Findings from his work could allow stakeholders to assess workers' exposure and the efficiency of ergonomic interventions.

Dr. Aanuoluwapo Ojelade is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University at Buffalo. He earned his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech. His research focuses on occupational ergonomics and biomechanics, specifically on developing physical ergonomic assessment methods and assessing ergonomic interventions to understand its beneficial and unintended consequences. He received the National Safety Council’s Research to Solutions grant to support his work on evaluating a markerless motion capture system to assess physical exposures.