| Augustin SEMENESCU1, Ana-Maria NICOLAU2
Abstract. The choice of a methodology for assessing ergonomic risk for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) is not a simple matter of preference, but substantially determines which risk factors are identified and which prevention measures are recommended. This paper presents a systematic critical study of the main established methodological families in the field — observational posture-based methods (OWAS, RULA, REBA), the quantitative biomechanical model for manual handling (the NIOSH lifting equation) and repetitive-movement exposure indices (OCRA, QEC) — evaluated through an explicit comparative framework of six criteria (theoretical/biomechanical validity, inter-evaluator reliability, sensitivity to specific risk factors, resources required, accessibility, scope of application). The framework is illustrated empirically through two comparative case studies from different domains — an industrial assembly/packing workstation and a patient-repositioning task in a hospital ward — in which the same activity is successively analysed through different methods, revealing substantially different and often complementary risk profiles. The central finding — the “methodological specificity paradox”, an approximately inverse relationship between a method’s biomechanical specificity/sensitivity and its practical accessibility — grounds a proposal for a stratified, two-tier assessment protocol. Keywords: occupational safety, occupational safety, ergonomic risk assessment, musculoskeletal disorders, OWAS, RULA, REBA, NIOSH lifting equation, OCRA, QEC, inter-method agreement, methodological specificity paradox. DOI 10.56082/annalsarscieng.2026.2.16 Read full article 1Professor, PhD, Eng. Mat. Ec., National University of Science and Technology Politehnica Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania, Member of Academy of Romanian Scientists; (e-mail: augustin.semenescu@upb.ro). 2Assoc. Professor, PhD, Eng., National University of Science and Technology Politehnica Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania, (e-mail: ana.avramescu@upb.ro). |
PUBLISHED in Annals Academy of Romanian Scientists Series on Engineering Sciences
ISSN PRINT 2066 – 6950 ISSN ONLINE 2066 – 8570 |
