This study evaluated the inter-rater reliability of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH®) hand activity level (HAL), an observational ergonomic assessment method used to estimate physical exposure to repetitive exertions during task performance. Video recordings of 858 cyclic and non-cyclic appliance manufacturing tasks were assessed by sixteen pairs of raters using the HAL visual-analog scale. A weighted Pearson Product Moment-Correlation Coefficient was used to evaluate the agreement between the HAL scores recorded by each rater pair, and the mean weighted correlation coefficients for cyclic and non-cyclic tasks were calculated. Results indicated that the HAL is a reliable exposure assessment method for cyclic (r̄-bar w = 0.69) and non-cyclic work tasks (r̄-bar w = 0.68). When the two reliability scores were compared using a two-sample Student's t-test, no significant difference in reliability (p = 0.63) between these work task categories was found. This study demonstrated that the HAL may be a useful measure of exposure to repetitive exertions during cyclic and non-cyclic tasks. RELEVANCE TO INDUSTRY Exposure to hazardous levels of repetitive action during non-cyclic task completion has traditionally been difficult to assess using simple observational techniques. The present study suggests that ergonomists could use the HAL to reliably and easily evaluate exposures associated with some non-cyclic work tasks.

中文翻译：

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器具制造中使用手部活动水平的循环和非循环任务评估的评估者间可靠性

本研究评估了美国政府工业卫生学家会议 (ACGIH®) 手部活动水平 (HAL) 的评估者间可靠性，这是一种观察性人体工程学评估方法，用于估计在任务执行期间对重复性运动的身体暴露。16 对评估者使用 HAL 视觉模拟量表评估了 858 个循环和非循环器具制造任务的视频记录。加权 Pearson 积矩相关系数用于评估每个评估者对记录的 HAL 分数之间的一致性，并计算循环和非循环任务的平均加权相关系数。结果表明，HAL 是循环（r̄-bar w = 0.69）和非循环工作任务（r̄-bar w = 0.68）的可靠暴露评估方法。当使用双样本学生 t 检验比较两个可靠性分数时，发现这些工作任务类别之间的可靠性没有显着差异 (p = 0.63)。这项研究表明，HAL 可能是在循环和非循环任务期间暴露于重复性运动的有用测量。与行业的相关性 传统上，使用简单的观察技术很难评估在非循环任务完成期间暴露于重复动作的危险水平。目前的研究表明，人体工程学专家可以使用 HAL 可靠且轻松地评估与某些非循环工作任务相关的暴露。这项研究表明，HAL 可能是在循环和非循环任务期间暴露于重复性运动的有用测量。与行业的相关性 传统上，使用简单的观察技术很难评估在非循环任务完成期间暴露于重复动作的危险水平。目前的研究表明，人体工程学专家可以使用 HAL 可靠且轻松地评估与某些非循环工作任务相关的暴露。这项研究表明，HAL 可能是在循环和非循环任务期间暴露于重复性运动的有用测量。与行业的相关性 传统上，使用简单的观察技术很难评估在非循环任务完成期间暴露于重复动作的危险水平。目前的研究表明，人体工程学专家可以使用 HAL 可靠且轻松地评估与某些非循环工作任务相关的暴露。