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With the inclusion of three new occupational diseases relating to injury to the spinal column in the Occupational Disease Ordinance in 1993, the statutory accident insur-ance institutions became obliged to pay compensation for injury to the spinal column resulting from occupational activity, and to intensify their preventive measures in this area.
The BG Institute for Occupational Safety (BIA) subsequently decided to develop a worker-oriented system for the measurement of stress variables relevant to the spi-nal column at the workplace, within the scope of a feasibility study performed in conjunction with the Institute for Applied Physics of the University of Bonn. The de-fined objective was a system suitable for practical application at as many different workplaces as possible, by means of which measured data could be obtained on stresses upon the spinal column resulting from occupational activity.
In the study presented, a measuring system of this kind was developed based upon the results of three degree theses, which has already been employed in several practical applications, and which fulfils the requirements placed upon the system within the scope of the feasibility study. For the purpose of measured data evalua-tion, a familiar scientific process (OWAS) was automated and a biomechanical model geared to the measured variables of the system was developed for prediction of the compression forces acting upon the invertebral cartilage at the lumbo-sacral joint.
Comparative measurements were performed by means of a laboratory reference procedure at the Institut National de Recherche et de Sécurité (INRS), the French equivalent to the BIA, for validation of the measured data.
The measurement system developed supports the BGs efficiently in the detection of occupational health hazards, and yields clear conclusions regarding the stress situation, even at non-stationary workplaces. |