Objective: This study was performed to investigate the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in auto workers of a mission assembly plants. Background: Most studies of musculoskeletal disorders have used car assembly line workers as their participants. However, little research has been done on musculoskeletal disorders afflictions of mission assembly line workers. Method: Through a focus group interview with an ergonomist and a manager at a mission assembly plant site, a questionnaire was developed for musculoskeletal disorders. The questionnaire consisted of five parts, demographic factors, musculoskeletal disorder symptoms, and musculoskeletal disorder experiences; 137 workers participated in this survey. The surveys were analyzed by correlation and Chi-squared analysis. Results: Musculoskeletal disorder symptoms and serious pain were reported in the neck, shoulder, back, and fingers. These problems were statistically related to various demographic factors, such as age, stature, stretching, and work satisfaction. Conclusion: Treatment of musculoskeletal disorders should consider the workers' traits. If there is no specific cause of the pain, developing stretches and exercises before and after work should be applied to prevent musculoskeletal disorders. Application: The results of this study can be used to develop guidelines to prevent injury in auto workers at mission assembly plants.

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of insole height change in the lumbosacral angle and physical functions in healthy males. Background: In order to release male's dissatisfaction with his height and to increase satisfaction with his body, using insole is generalized. There have been researches on female's body change in accordance with function of insole and heel height, whereas there are few researches on males. Method: Participants were divided into three groups. A control group had 10 participants who wore 0cm insole. Experimental group I had 10 participants who wore 2cm insole. Experimental group II had 10 participants who wore 4cm insole. All participants wore insoles during their daily lives for a trial period of 8 weeks. The results were evaluated before and after comparison, and we measured lumbosacral angle, balance (dynamic balance, agility, quickness) and lumbar pain (LBP). Results: This study showed that insole height affected lumbosacral angle and dynamic balance and pain. In particular, there were significant differences in the 4cm group among the three groups (p<.05). The 2cm group did show a significant difference in lumbosacral angle and pain (p<.05). Furthermore, no significant difference was observed within the control group. Conclusion: The 4cm insole height suggests that the increase of lumbosacral angle contributes to some changes in LBP, balance, pain and physical functions, probably leading to negative effects on variety of activities of daily life. Application: The results of wearing insoles with proper height will help to prevent musculoskeletal disorders.

Objective: The objective of this research is to quantitatively analyze muscle activities of arm and shoulder, according to direction in various types of one-handed manual material handling, based on surface electromyography. Background: Workers in industrial sites frequently carry out one-handed manual material handling using arm and shoulder muscles. Therefore, chronic load and accumulated fatigue occur to arm and shoulder muscles, which becomes a main cause of upper arm and shoulder musculoskeletal disorders. The shoulder muscles have widely range of motion, and complex interactions take place among various muscles including rotator cuff muscles. In this regard, research on interactions among should muscles, according to such various dynamic motions, is required. Method: Ten male subjects in their 20s participated in this research. This research considered upward, downward, leftward, rightward, forward and backward directions and fourteen muscles around arm and shoulder (biceps brachii and trapezius, etc.) as independent variables. The mean muscle activity was set as the dependent variable. This research extracted $4^{th}{\sim}7^{th}$ repetition signals according to ten times of repetitive muscle contraction, and analyzed the muscle activity concerned using the envelope detection technique. Results: The mean muscle activity of upward direction was analyzed highly statistically significant. The reason is that the effect of gravity works to arm and shoulder muscles. Also, it is conjectured that deformation of coracoacromial ligament was caused, and its contact pressure increased, due mainly to the shoulder flexion, and therefore load was analyzed high. Muscle activity was analyzed significantly low, according to concentric ballistic motion used in the concentric contraction phase by storing elastic energy in the eccentric contraction phase with a motion to bring the weight to the front of subject's body as to downward, leftward and backward directions. Because, elbow joint's flexion-extension motions mainly occurred, biceps brachii was analyzed high muscle activity as the prime mover. Conclusion: The information on the quantitative load of muscles can be applied to ergonomic work design for one-handed manual material handling to minimize muscle load. Application: This research has effectively identified muscle activity according to dynamic contraction by applying an envelope detection technique. The results can be used for ergonomic work design to minimize muscle load during the one-handed manual material handling, according to each direction. The research results are expected to be used for musculoskeletal disorder prevention and physiotherapy in the rehabilitation medical field, based on the muscle load of arm and shoulder in various directions.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate Korean workers' work ability and to identify its contributing factors. Background: In order for Korea to overcome the phenomena of becoming an aged society, older adults must participate in the workforce to balance out the population; workers' work ability must also be maintained. In addition, influential factors in employees' capabilities and degrees of importance thereof should be identified in advance to maintain work ability. Method: The Work Ability Index (WAI) questionnaire was completed by 5,708 Korean workers. Survey questionnaire consisted items of current work ability, physical and mental demands of the job, numbers of diseases, work impairment due to diseases, sick leaves, work ability in 2 years and mental resources. Results: Results indicated that work ability and length of service increased with age. It was also found that employees in administrative positions had greater work ability than site workers, workers directly managed by a supervisor had greater work ability than workers in cooperative firms, and workers who performed intellectual tasks had greater work ability than workers who performed physical labor. Job stress was additionally observed to contribute towards overall work ability. And musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) were found to negatively affect work ability. Conclusion: The strongest determining factors in the work ability of Korean workers were stress level and mental state. Therefore, when the WAI is used to assess Korean workers, the weighting of WAI items pertaining to physical and mental abilities should be adjusted accordingly to account for these factors. Application: The result is expected to suggest that workers maintain work ability in an aged society.

Objective: The aim of this study was to perform a usability test for CPAD (Cognitive Perceptual Assessment for Driving) and improve it based on the test results. Background: The cognitive perceptual assessment for driving is a computer-based assessment tool to assess the driving capacity of people with brain-damages. It may be a good tool for evaluating the brain-damaged drivers' safe driving capabilities and screening cognitive and perceptual deficits related to driving. We performed a usability test to improve the CPAD based on the result. Method: Both the software consisting of 8 sub-tests (depth perception, sustained attention, divided attention, stroop test, field dependency, digit span, trail making A, trail making B) and the hardware including the input and output devices ( joystick, mouse, keyboard, touch screen) were evaluated through user interviews. Also we identified the problems and issues in using them by observing the participants performing the CPAD tasks. Results: Based on the results, the task instructions were visually and auditorily improved and more practice examples were added to help the users understand the instructions better and increase the input accuracy, a response time window was added and the joystick and touch screen were simplified, which made it easier for the user to perform the CAPD tasks. Conclusion: User discomforts were minimized by improving the task environment, unless it had affected the evaluation criteria. Application: We plan to distribute the improved version of the CPAD to the regional rehabilitation hospitals, and the driving support centers for people with disabilities throughout the country, so it could be used as an evaluation tool for disabled drivers' cognitive and perceptual functions.

Objective: This study aims to analyze occupational accidents of moving helpers by work place type which means the type of residence where moving operation is done. Background: Most efforts have been focused on the industry base comprising various occupational spectrum and provided industry general preventative policies. But occupation specific policies are required for the workers involved and will reduce the occurrences of occupational accidents for the workers subject to similar working environment and process. Method: This study analyzes 208 non-motor vehicle collision related occupational accidents of moving helpers working for used household and office goods moving industry occurring from 2010 to 2012. Accident Type, agencies, event or exposure, parts of body affected are characterized by work places according to the work environment. Results: Accidents characteristics showed the difference between high-rise type and low-rise type on the size of enterprise, age, gender and work experience of the injured. Also the accident type, source of accident and parts of body affected are different between the two work place types. Finally, Accidents occurred on the specific operational processes of moving service also showed different characteristic between the two types. Conclusion and Application: The findings of accident characteristics according to workplace types and operational process of moving service can be used as baseline data for establishing systemized preventative policies for occupational accidents of moving helpers.