The Center for Occupational Safety, Ergonomics, & Injury Prevention has active research in many areas. The following profiles highlight some broad areas of recent and ongoing research:
Agricultural Safety & Health
The Combined Impact of Hand-Arm Vibration and Noise Exposure on Hearing Sensitivity of Agricultural/Forestry Workers—A Systematic Literature Review - Link
Biomechanical factors during common agricultural activities: Results of on-farm exposure assessments using direct measurement methods – Link
Whole-body vibration and trunk posture during operation of agricultural machinery - Link
Exoskeletons
Actuation Timing Perception of a Powered Ankle Exoskeleton and Its Associated Ankle Angle Changes During Walking - Link
An ergonomic assessment tool for evaluating the effect of back exoskeletons on injury risk - Link
Individuals differ in muscle activation patterns during early adaptation to a powered ankle exoskeleton - Link
Evacuation Safety
Establishing School Bus Baseline Emergency Evacuation Times for Elementary School Students - Link
Characterizing posture and associated physiological demand during evacuation - Link
School bus rear emergency door design improvements to increase evacuation flow - Link
Fatigue Failure
Musculoskeletal disorders as a fatigue failure process: evidence, implications and research needs - Link
Musculoskeletal Disorders: The Fatigue Failure Mechanism - Link
Development and validation of a cumulative exposure shoulder risk assessment tool based on fatigue failure theory - Link
Modeling the Lower Back
Regression models for the erector spinae muscle mass (ESMM) cross-sectional area: asymptomatic populations - Link
Prediction models for the cross-sectional areas of lower lumbar intervertebral discs and vertebral endplates – Link
Using MRI-derived spinal geometry to compute back compressive stress (BCS): a new measure of low back pain risk - Link
Transportation Systems
Human Performance in Highly Automated, Cyber Vulnerable Unmanned Aerial Systems: Effects of Operators’ Background and Task Load - Link
Isolating the effect of off-road glance duration on driving performance: An exemplar study comparing hdd and hud in different driving scenarios - Link
Determining the impact of augmented reality graphic spatial location and motion on driver behaviors - Link
Wearable Sensors
Barriers to the Adoption of Wearable Sensors in the Workplace: A Survey of Occupational Safety and Health Professionals - Link
Manufacturing worker perceptions of using wearable inertial sensors for multiple work shifts - Link
Wearable inertial sensors for objective kinematic assessments: A brief overview - Link
