Direct measurements and systematic observations of physical workload among medical secretaries, furniture removers and male and female reference populations.

The aim of this investigation was to collect quantitative information about the occurrence of manual materials handling and working postures in working life. Direct technical recordings and systematic observations by trained ergonomists were used throughout a whole working day on 12 male furniture removers, 13 female medical secretaries, 27 males and 45 females randomly sampled from the working population in the Stockholm area. A quantitative job exposure profile was obtained by weighting together exposure data obtained by observation of tasks occurring during a normal working week. The results showed no major differences in physical exposures between the male and female reference populations. The medical secretaries spent less time than the female population kneeling/squatting and longer time than any other group with repetitive hand movements. Exposure data for task and job should be clearly distinguished.