Proposal and verification of a methodology for the measurement of local muscular load via datalogger

Abstract

Workers are under increasing pressure to perform, and an encouraging working environment must be created so as to help ensure that workers meet their performance goals. Despite the growing trend of automation and robotics, the human factor remains important. This paper studies occupational diseases stemming from long-term, excessive, and unilateral muscular load in employees. The paper's aim is to evaluate the “local muscular load” that is measured in Czech and Slovak businesses, and to verify the local muscular load measuring methodology's status as a valid and recognized measurement in order to subsequently strengthen the prevention of occupational diseases among workers. A very necessary part of the research was the development of a new SW application for datalogger data analysis. This application provides the datalogger's user with a clear graphical output. A graph within it specifies the level of local muscular load. This paper presents a theoretical and experimental evaluation of the equipment being developed (the datalogger) and its validation with the existing certified methodology called electromyography (EMG). The results of the correlations of both measurements while evaluating the local muscular load are analyzed within this article. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd