Development of a non-expert risk assessment method for hand-arm related tasks (HARM)

To support health and safety practitioners in their obligation of risk assessment the 'Hand Arm Risk Assessment Method' (HARM) was developed. This tool can be used by any type of company for risk assessment of developing arm, neck or shoulders symptoms (pain) resulting from light manual tasks.This paper describes the development of HARM1.0. A literature study and review of existing methods showed that the best available method to use as a basis was the Key Indicator Method for Manual Handling Operations (KIM MHO). Based on a combination of scientific data and input from a scientific committee with experts on risk factors for arm, neck or shoulder pain the KIM MHO was expanded with the evaluation of working postures and using vibrating hand tools. Input from field-experts was included using the paired equations method in which risk factors were ranked and weight factors assessed. A prototype tool was developed and tested for reliability and concurrent validity. A fair to good agreement in the overall risk evaluation (green/amber/red) between practitioners and expert-users was found. However, validity and reliability results were poor for lower arm/wrist posture and force exertion. Therefore, adjustments were made in the web based tool, which resulted in HARM1.0. Relevance to industry: This paper describes the development of a new method for risk assessment of hand arm tasks. The development was based on literature study and expert opinions. Field tests with the tool showed that it can support companies in their task of designing safe and health work environments. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.