Evaluation of Ergonomic Assessment Tools Using Fuzzy AHP

Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) are on the rise in almost every industrialized country. For countering the effects of WMSDs posture analysis tools are used by ergonomic practitioners. The collection of posture analysis tools is huge, with the likes of RULA, REBA, QEC, OCRA, JSI, and others. Here comes the use of the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchical Process (F-AHP). Recently, F-AHP is used extensively for the selection of optimal option out of a set of choices. F-AHP is primarily based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), it is a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) model, which uses the Fuzzy theory. In this research, F-AHP is used to evaluate five posture analysis tools, viz. RULA, REBA, QEC, OCRA, and JSI. A hierarchical structure was constructed by considering Work posture, Frequency/Repetition, and Load/Weight handled as factors (level 1) and RULA, REBA, QEC, OCRA, and JSI as the choices (level 2). The available epidemiologic evidence and views of experts were prime drivers in conducting this research. MS Excel was used to conduct the requisite calculations of AHP. CR was found to be less than 0.10 in each case, suggesting that there is no anomaly in consistency. This research led to the conclusion that QEC was overall best among the tools selected, followed by JSI, REBA, RULA, and OCRA respectively.